Union comes alive in Winter Wonderland

By David Jablonski Managing Editor

The township came alive on Friday, Dec. 2, when Union’s Winter Wonderland was hosted at F. Edward Biertuempfel Memorial Park, along Winslow Avenue. Thousands came out for the celebration, which continued on Saturday, Dec. 3, culminating in a tree lighting, despite the unpleasant weather that day.

“Union’s Winter Wonderland is an annual event that usually takes place in front of Town Hall, but, because this year we started construction on a new library, we had to move to Biertuempfel Park,” said William Reyes Jr., assistant township administrator, in an interview with Union County LocalSource on Monday, Dec. 5. “I love the location because of its size. It enables us to do more and get more creative and offer more fun and exciting things for families, such as increasing the size of the Vendor Village, being able to offer more inflatables and games for children, being able to offer more food trucks and food vendors, and having a bigger stage, so we can bring larger performance groups and have live entertainment throughout the event.”

Among the numerous activities for all ages, particularly children, were an ice skating rink and curling, a children’s area with inflatables and a trackless train, a s’mores fire pit area, a Santa’s workshop with puppet shows, a gingerbread house with cookie demonstrations, a sled dog demonstration, a live Nativity scene and an icecarving display.

None of this could have happened without numerous volunteers assisting in the efforts.

“Winter Wonderland is one of those events that pretty much every single department has a hand in it,” said Reyes. “It takes about 10 months to plan, and everyone, from the Police Department and Fire Department to Recreation, Public Works, the Public Information Office, Union TV and the Police Activities League got involved.”

Despite the cold, inclement weather, particularly on Saturday, Dec. 3, it proved one of the most popular events of the year for Union.