Kicking off the holiday season throughout Grays Harbor County
Published 1:30 am Monday, December 8, 2025
For many cities in Grays Harbor County, Saturday, Dec. 6, marked the start of the holiday season, and here’s how the cities welcomed the season.
Elma
The Elma Chamber of Commerce hosted the city’s annual tree lighting ceremony at the Dave Osgood Visitor Information Center. At 4 p.m., the festivities kicked off with Spody’s Christmas Convoy driving down Main Street, and spectators lined the street to watch the convey.
Following the convoy, Dancers with Dancehouse entertained the crowd with a dance routine; this is the fifth year the Dancehouse has participated as part of the annual tree lighting ceremony. Santa was on hand for pictures and at dusk, the switch was flipped on to light up the tree.
McCleary
Christmas in McCleary began at the McCleary School with a Santa Breakfast and over 160 people turning out. The breakfast featured a tree auction, a Bear Festival bake sale, raffle, and photos with Santa.
The 10th Annual One Stop Christmas Shop at the McCleary VFW Post and the McCleary Museum featured opportunities for shopping. Later in the afternoon, and between rain showers, runners and walkers came out for the Jingle Bear Trot. At 6 p.m. there was the annual train lighting in Beerbower Park, followed by Spody’s Christmas Convoy driving through town, and the McCleary Hotel held a vintage board game night.
Oakville
Both the Oakville Grange and the Sharon Grange featured a breakfast with Santa and photo opportunities for kids and pets.
Oakville Grange President Rob Holsinger said that this was the seventh year the grange has hosted a free Breakfast with Santa as a way to give back to the community. An estimated 200 people came through the door. Every child left with a toy that was donated by CTM Unlimited Auctions and Auto Sales Unlimited, and after gifts were given away, families stayed for bingo. Professional Santa, William Harris donated his time to be Santa.
At 11 a.m., Grays Harbor Fire District #1 conducted its annual Santa Food drive, collecting donations for the Oakville Food Bank.The Oakville High School boy’s basketball team and the district’s vehicles escorted Santa through town, and families waited on the sidewalk for a photo opportunity.
In the evening, the Oakville Chamber of Commerce and the Oakville School District held a free spaghetti dinner at the high school, followed by a tree lighting ceremony and caroling at the Grays Harbor Fire District building.
Mayor Anthony Smith welcomed everyone in attendance and shared a history of the tree lighting, which involved a smaller tree located at Veterans Park and swapping out batteries, before the tree was moved to its current location.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable to see the amount of people that are now starting to show up to this event,” he said.
The event was livestreamed and is available at https://www.facebook.com/OakvilleCoC.
