It is with heavy hearts that we share with the local community that we will be cancelling all in-person Santa Claus visits this year at Hanover’s Santa Cabin.  Since the beginning of our planning we understood that in order to have a safe season we would need to work closely with the local healthcare systems,  UPMC Hanover and Wellspan Health along with the Borough of Hanover’s emergency management team to ensure our community COVID case rates were low in order to open up the Cabin for visits, even with safety measures in place.  At this time, the local cases remain at an unsafe level to invite people to visit.  We were prepared for this possibility, but it makes it no easier for us to share. We understand how devastating it is for families this season that almost every tradition they were looking forward to has changed. We are also devastated. We encourage you to send your letters to Santa using his cabin mailbox downtown, follow our social media channels and website for virtual opportunities to interact over the holidays, and most of all do all you can to bring cheer to one another safely this year.

Santa was most upset of all to miss a visit with you this year, but he is hopeful that there are brighter days ahead.

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10.5.2020
The Hanover Christmas Committee, a Main Street Hanover effort, is happy to announce the following plans for the 2020 Christmas Season.

We understand that any changes to the infection rates in Hanover can impact our ability to keep the cabin open, so we are prompting the community to follow our website and social media channels to ensure the cabin’s hours before visiting. We have created a Cabin disclaimer as well, at the bottom of this announcement, ensuring that the community is aware that this plan, as announced today, is on a day-by-day basis.

Unfortunately, we are also announcing today that the Holiday Parade, traditionally held on Black Friday, and the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony held on Small Business Saturday will be cancelled. We are looking forward to sharing a virtual experience with you in partnership with Community Media.

Our Christmas Committee has been working overtime to plan for a variety of virtual events and online activities that we will announce in the coming days.  Our coloring page by local artist Bobbi Becker is in the works and will still be available to color this year. A bike decorating and holiday home decorating contest will be announced which we think you will love! A few more fun and festive surprise activities are almost ready to share, so please, if you don’t already, follow our social media channels to ensure you see all the great things we hope you’ll participate in this year.

Main Street Hanover’s downtown businesses are excited to welcome you for your holiday shopping needs as well! Dec. 12 we will be hosting a Holiday Stroll and will launch the 2020 Christmas Tree Wars after Thanksgiving. So please remember to shop small this holiday season and support local when visiting Santa’s Cabin this year.

We want to give a big thank you to everyone for their help in getting this ready! We could not accomplish all that we are doing this year without the dedicated committee of volunteers and Main Street Hanover staff.

If you have any questions or comments regarding today’s announcement please reach out to Main Street Hanover’s Executive Director, Justine Trucksess – jtrucksess@mainstreethanover.org or (717) 637-6130 x101.

Cabin Disclaimer:
We plan to have Santa’s Cabin open for the entire 2020 schedule.

The health and well-being of our volunteers and visitors is our highest priority.

The Christmas in Hanover committee along with the Borough of Hanover wants to reassure our community that we have developed COVID -19 guidelines that we hope will ensure everyone’s health and safety during our Christmas season.

These guidelines and protocols have been developed in conjunction with recommendations from the CDC, the State of Pennsylvania, and local health officials.

Please visit our website for our COVID Update tab for more information. We will update the information as needed. (tab under construction but almost ready to launch)

Please view all guidelines before your visit, as this will be a very fluid situation.

Days and hours are subject to change at any time.