Memories
Congratulations to the winner of the 2022 Hanover Christmas coloring contest!!!
Kamdyn
Thank you to all the children that entered!
Congratulations to the winner of the 2022 Hanover Christmas coloring contest!!!
Stella
Thank you to all the children that entered!
Congratulations to the winner of the 2021 Hanover Christmas coloring contest!!!
Thank you to all the children that entered!
Congratulations to the winner of the 2021 Hanover Christmas coloring contest!!!
Thank you to all the children that entered!
Congratulations to the winner of the 2020 Hanover Christmas coloring contest!!!
Harrison - 5 Years old
Thank you to all the children that entered!
Congratulations to the winner of the 2020 Hanover Christmas coloring contest!!!
Grace - 9 Years old
Thank you to all the children that entered!
Congratulations to the winner of the 2019 Hanover Christmas
coloring contest!!!
Brielle
Thank you to all the children that entered!
Congratulations to the winner of the 2018 Hanover Christmas
coloring contest!!!
Brooklyn
Thank you to all the children that entered!
2012 Santa Parade Hanover, PA
2012 Santa Cabin 75th Plaque
&
Dignitary Presentation Parade Day
November 12th 2012
A program was held at the Hanover Library,
Nov 12, 2012 for adults to share their memories of Santa’s cabin.
Dr. John R. McGrew and Santa hosted the discussion,
as part of the
Christmas 2012 - 75 Years of Hanover's Santa Cabin celebration.
“I love when my 5 year old granddaughter comes to Hanover to visit from Virginia and as we pass the square she says that's where Santa's House sits at Christmas....she already has her own childhood memories of Santa's Cabin. And we all have great memories of you dear Santa !!!”
“I remember those days,too! Mom would drop me off at McCrory's Store on Frederick St. and let me do my Christmas shopping! Living in VA now and miss the parades and seeing the cabin”
“I went there as a kid, and I took my son there, too. Funny, Santa hasn't aged at all!”
'”Santa was always at the end of the Thanksgiving Day parade. Went every year to sit on his lap and tell him what I wanted for Christmas. I always thought he was the real Santa, not the ones in dept. stores.”
Santa Cabin remembered
By Lois Revi
When I was 4 or 5 years old, my mother and I lived with my grandparents,
James and Leila Malcolm, on Stock Street. My grandfather, whom I called Grandaddy was a wonderful and hardworking man. We had a special
relationship. Grandaddy instilled a profound work ethic in me. You had
to work hard for what you wanted to achieve. He taught me how to ride
and fostered a great love of horses, something I enjoyed for most of my
life. We rode together through much of Hanover and into the Pigeon Hills
to look for arrow heads. Then, we would come into town and tie our
horses outside of a diner and have lunch together. We rode and showed
our horses at numerous horse shows including the one at the Hanover
Fairgrounds.
In 1936, Grandaddy bid on what would be the first Santa Cabin at an
auction held by the Borough of Hanover. He must have kept it in storage
for a few weeks prior to Christmas because it arrived Christmas Eve in
our backyard. Settled next to our garage, it seemed like the Cabin had
been placed with Christmas Magic. As my mother led me to the Cabin, who
was inside but Saint Nick himself. I don't remember the exchange, but
Santa told me he had brought this playhouse for me and I should share it
with my friends. It is a wonderful memory of my Grandaddy's kindness.
And did we play in that Cabin! My best friend, Barbara Keeney, (who
later became Mrs. Charlie Markle) had curls like Shirley Temple and the
two of us spend hours in the Cabin. We played dolls, had tea parties and
for years, that Cabin was our refuge. We had neighborhood boys stop by
to bother us--Glaynard Biddle and Punk Myers just wanted to see what we
girls were doing in there. It was a great place for all of the
neighborhood kids to share.
One fall night, when we were 7 or 8, Barbara and I decided we would camp
out in the Cabin. We marched out with my Scottish Terrier, Kilty,
pillows, blankets and goodies to brave the night in the Cabin. We
"roughed it" for a few hours until it really got cold and dark. Of
course, the Cabin had no heat and wasn't insulated. I don't think we
made it past 10 o'clock when we decided that Kilty was scared and came
inside.
From the time the Cabin appeared in my backyard until I went to boarding
school, Santa never failed to come to the Cabin on Christmas Eve. Santa
would appear in the Cabin and he would listen to my requests, wish my
family a Merry Christmas, and rush off to deliver toys to all the
children of the world. And I feel I believed in Christmas Magic longer
that most children because of his visits each year.
I left for Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr at 11 years old and when I
returned that Thanksgiving, the Cabin was gone! Grandaddy told me that
the termites had infested the playhouse and it had to be removed for
fear of damage to the garage. What a loss! In many ways, the Cabin was a
symbol of my childhood--full of friends, warm smiles, happy memories,
fun and of course the joy and Magic of Christmas.
Grover Gouker, alias Santa Claus, displays two fo the thousands of
letters he has received from children from all across the country and
overseas.
Mr. Grover Gouker, whose “Letters to Santa” Project was featured on the
ABC program Nightline on Christmas Eve 2001. As a young Postal Service
worker in Hanover, PA Mr. Gouker was heartbroken when he discovered that
children’s letters to Santa were being thrown into the wastebasket. He
began to answer the letters. Mr. Gouker became an author of two books, I
Don’t Want No Soap, The Shortest Letter Santa Ever Got!, based on an
actual letter from a young boy named Scott and My Santamental Journey,
an in-depth look into Mr. Gouker’s 58 year “Letters to Santa”.
Christmas in Hanover
by
Allison Cline-Saia
One day in November, it
magically appears
In its place on the square, where it’s stood for 75 years,
all ready and waiting for Santa to make his way
Down York Street to the square on his special sleigh.
Finally, the day after Thanksgiving, when the table is cleared
And everyone is filled to the brim with good holiday cheer,
The people of Hanover will gather in the streets
To see Santa ride into town perched high upon his seat.
Generations of families, the young and the old
Will bundle up in their mittens and scarves to stand in the cold.
And wait for their turn on Santa Claus’ knee
While watching the Christmas lights dance on the trees.
Yes, for seventy-five years, children have come to whisper in Santa’s
ear
Their Christmas wishes, hopes, and dreams that only he can hear--
They wish for toys, for books and games
For dolls, for bikes, for computers and trains.
That little log cabin with the big red door and the man who lives inside
Hold a special place in the hearts of all Hanoverians far and wide--
It’s just not Christmas in the Black Rose town without a visit to the
square
Where Santa will be waiting on you with holiday dreams to share!!