Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Jolly Old Elf

Flying Santa picked a great day to visit!

The tradition goes back to the 1930's of pilots ferrying Santa Claus to isolated Light Keepers all over the United States. On our coast the late, great, Edward Rowe Snow played a part in keeping this tradition alive. The whole story can be found here.

The weather for a visit from Saint Nick was ideal. Dolly Bicknell, daughter of Edward Rowe Snow joined the Jolly Old Elf in keeping with her own family tradition. With a tremendous effort from the Scituate Highway Department the parking lot was freed from rock and sand. Scituate Police LT. John Rooney coordinated the placement of barriers for cars and pedestrians, with the Scituate Fire Department keeping a watchful eye in case of mishap. For the Cedar Point Association, Dave Ball and Betty Kincaid did their usual conscientious job. I had it easy; getting gifts and taking pictures is not heavy lifting.

We start with a video clip of the landing:

Below are the photographs Julie grabbed as people anticipated the arrival:












Once the helicopter was down and I had welcomed Santa to the Point I made a run for the Tower to get a wider view of the event.

Julie was up close for these shots.







When it was time to go Santa returned to the chopper and headed North across the marsh.



We eagerly await his return in two weeks!

I will be awarding Lighthouse T shirts to the first five people who correctly identify the singers of the song in the landing video - use the comment box for your replies. Good Luck.

9 comments:

  1. is it Bing Crosy and Andy Williams????

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm sorry, that is incorrect - Listen carefully once again to the dulcet tones that mark the version as a true original

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wish I could have seen this for myself. I was planning on it all week, but I got stuck at work. Great photos!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why do I think it's Johnny Mercer? Are you going to tell us?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am going to tell all - lets give the rest of the crowd some more time - I will offer this clue - it is a group and not one artist.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's The Mills Brothers singing!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Eileen -

    You are the first and only one to guess correctly - well done - send me an email at gallagher.history@gmail.com and I will send you your prize.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Merry Christmas to the Gallagher Family! Thank you for sharing your story! Hope you are weathering this storm! Patti and Tom from Sturbridge

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to comment on any of the posts

New Spot for the Blog from Now On

 This site has been a good friend for the past 12 plus years but it has its limitations.  To address those limitations I have set up a new w...