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LEESBURG – Leesburg’s Christmas Candelaria drew a crowd of residents to the old fire station Saturday, Dec. 13, despite poor weather.
During the Candelaria, people were able to go the old firehouse building for cookies and hot chocolate. During that time, the Leesburg Elementary School choir, conducted by Stephanie Coates, sang Christmas carols and Santa Claus made a visit.
The Christmas Candelaria usually involves approximately 1,400 luminarias by the Leesburg Mighty Farmers 4H Club down several of Leesburg main roads. Due to the weather Saturday, Dec. 13 the luminarias will be set out Saturday, Dec. 20. Organizer Christina Archer said there should be better weather when the luminarias are put out and the delay was to keep everyone safe due to the weather.
The Candelaria was restarted in 2010 after several years without the event going on. Archer said she remembers her children enjoying the event when they were small “and everyone in Leesburg seemed to” and it was decided it could possibly be restarted again.
“And we’ve been very successful with it,” Archer said.
It does bring a lot of people together and it brings people out more than other events in Leesburg, she said, adding hopefully, people would meet new friends or neighbors they didn’t know before.
