Mantua’s annual winter festival will return to Chestnut Branch Park Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m.
The free event is organized by the township recreation committee and will feature holiday lights and decorations.
“This is a great family event … ” said Mayor Robert Zimmerman. “We encourage you to come join in the fun and take advantage of our beautiful park as it’s decorated like a winter wonderland for the Christmas season.”
Santa will be at the event, as will be a variety of activities, including rides, inflatables, a photo booth and music provided by a DJ. The festival will conclude with a fireworks display expected to light up the night sky. Zimmerman and other members of the township committee will be in attendance.
“We have a host of activities,” Zimmerman said. ” … We have special guest appearances by Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus, along with Mantua’s own Miss Cape Resort 2025, Emily Cooney.”
Miss Cape Resort is the preliminary contest for the Miss New Jersey portion of the Miss America pageant. Cooney has appeared at a number of township events over the past year – including Pups in the Park in April – and has volunteered for a number of community service projects in Mantua.
Many of Chestnut Branch Park’s landmarks will also be on display at the festival: the Tornado Crossing Disc Golf Course, which added nine more holes earlier this year for a total of 18; the 9/11 Memorial Place of Remembrance situated around a piece of the Twin Towers; and the Butterfly Gardens.
“We’ve done a lot of enhancing to the park,” noted recreation chairwoman Regina Dewitt. “It’s nice living in a place where we have the opportunities that the park gives us. It’s one of the biggest events the township puts on all year.
“It started out small, and has only grown more ever since.”
