Little Miss Berkeley County Maya Regalia tells her Christmas gift wishes to Santa Claus in McMurran Hall on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Hundreds of community residents and visitors crowded together in front of McMurran Hall on Friday night, as they gathered in record numbers to celebrate the coming of Christmas in Shepherdstown.

Activities taking place throughout the kickoff event, included s’mores roasting over an open fire pit run by the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department in front of Town Hall, Christmas story reading by Mrs. Claus on McMurran Hall’s lawn, German Street businesses offering hot chocolate to passersby, chestnuts and chili being sold to hungry celebrants by the Shepherdstown Kiwanis Club at the War Memorial Building, the arrival of Santa Claus on a Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department engine at McMurran Hall and the lighting of the town’s Christmas tree, which had been placed and decorated in front of McMurran Hall by the Shepherdstown Rotary Club.

Auxer welcomed the unprecedented numbers in attendance of the tree lighting, with a few warm words of his own and of the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz.

“Good evening and Merry Christmas!” Auxer said. “What a glorious time for us. We are so very fortunate to be members of a community that thrives on kindness, diversity and the desire to come together for the common we good. We are grateful that we are presented with the opportunity to enjoy all that Shepherdstown provides for enriching our lives.

“Look around you and know the feeling that our community embraces,” Mayor Jim Auxer said. “During this season, we should remember what Charles Schulz was quoted saying, that ‘Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone.'”

Shepherdstown residents Rosie Fisher and her mother, Mary Ann Fisher, push their cat, Prince Snowflake, in a stroller around the Christmas in Shepherdstown kickoff event in front of McMurran Hall on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

After Auxer’s speech was completed, local cat celebrity Prince Snowflake turned the tree’s lights on, by tapping a round, gold button with his paw.

Auxer and Town Recorder Lori Robertson, dressed as Cindy-Lou Who, agreed that the reason for the increase in event attendees was due to a decrease in wind and pleasant temperature, making staying outside for a few hours safe and comfortable for celebrants of all ages.

“The turnout was huge! We’re thinking it was, by far, one of the biggest ones we’ve had,” Robertson said. “The weather’s perfect — it’s not super cold or super warm. I didn’t have to put on so many clothes that I looked like a linebacker this year. I actually look like Cindy-Lou!”

According to Shepherdstown Kiwanis Club member John Walker, the turnout for the kickoff was just as good inside as it had been outside. He counted a record number of about 240 people had attended the club’s annual Chili & Cornbread fundraiser.

“We’re out, so it went wonderfully for us!” said Shepherdstown Kiwanis Club member Gloria Thatcher, as she pointed out the empty pots of chili being taken into the War Memorial Building’s kitchen for cleanup. “It’s a great community event — I’ve seen all my neighbors and friends and even friends from out of town here!”

Martinsburg resident Lisa Branson, holding her three-year-old granddaughter, Imani, poses with her 13-year-old daughter, Olivia, and the Grinch, after the tree lighting ceremony in Shepherdstown on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

While the chili may have sold out, Shepherdstown Kiwanis Club Secretary Adele Knott said that was not do to a lack of the club making enough.

“We added to the amount of pots of chili this year, but we might have to make even more next year!” Knott said, noting the club made at least 15 pots of chili for the fundraiser.

For the club, one major help in dealing with the increase in traffic at the fundraiser, was the volunteer labor of 15 members from the Jefferson High School Key Club, a student branch of the Kiwanis Club. Knott said volunteering like that, along with the work of so many other entities throughout evening, was what makes Christmas in Shepherdstown a unique experience.

“It makes Shepherdstown special,” Knott said. “We work together, regardless of our various affiliations.”