Enchanted Forest Holiday Activities Underway

Entrance to Enchanted Forest in Lamar

Lamar, CO – The Lamar Chamber of Commerce has been participating in conversations about revitalizing the Enchanted Forest. One proposal for the park is to bring back holiday activities and have Santa’s Workshop and the Santa’s Train operating during weekend hours.  The Chamber is looking for organizations or businesses to sponsor time and provide volunteers to run the train and have activities for the children.

“Currently, we are looking to have Santa’s Train in operation and activities planned for each Saturday in December, before Christmas, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Once we have these times filled we will begin to book times in addition to these three Saturdays.  I would like to see us open up Santa’s Workshop and be able to run the train on Sunday afternoon between the hours of 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.,” states Lamar Chamber President, Lisa Thomas.

Resident, Kelsey Churchill, approached several interested parties with her ideas about revitalization, “I want to see us provide fun activities for our children and families, that cost residents little to no money, and will offer us the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors during the colder months.” Churchill has several other ideas that are being discussed with the City of Lamar, LPI’s Main Street Program, Healthy Places, Prowers Partners for Progress and the Chamber of Commerce.

Churchill and her cohorts from Prowers Medical Center have agreed to be in charge of the first Saturday in December. Santa, Mrs. Claus, and several of Santa’s helpers will kick off a holiday season of celebration at the Enchanted Forest with music, craft activities and an engineer operating Santa’s Train.  Prowers Medical Center encourages their employees to participate in community activities.  “We recently implemented a culture awareness initiative at Prowers Medical Center and have redirected our focus on our corporate values.  With that comes the encouragement of our Team Members to become more actively involved with community activities.  Kelsey’s energy and enthusiasm with her ideas for this revitalization project is a prime example of the many changes we are beginning to see with our staff,” says Karen Bryant, Chief Operating Officer at Prowers Medical Center.

“We envision this holiday season as the perfect opportunity to bring energy back to the Enchanted Forest. We hope to revitalize the vison of Pat Palmer and Lee Robinson, and those that worked so hard to create this wonderful city asset of the Enchanted Forest, and we hope to provide some innovation to the park by listening to the fresh ideas of residents and our local business owners.  There is even planning underway for a Dog Pageant and having local groups utilize the stage for holiday performances,” says Thomas.

The Lamar Chamber of Commerce is in charge of scheduling organizations to host times in the Enchanted Forest. If you wish to schedule your organization or group, please contact the Chamber at 719-336-4379.  Planning and coordination is underway and we encourage all community members to participate with us and enjoy the Enchanted Forest during the holiday season.