Santa Claus arrives in town square, on the back of the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department’s Engine 3, on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — The Christmas in Shepherdstown kickoff drew hundreds of community members and visitors to town square on Friday evening, eager to celebrate the arrival of the holiday season together.

For many attendees of the annual event, the kickoff proved to be an opportunity to commemorate beloved traditions. In front of the Old Market House, Shepherdstown Kiwanis Club member Mike Walker was bringing back one of his family’s traditions, by selling hot roasted chestnuts roasted to raise money for charity.

“This stand has been here for 17 years — I’ve done this every year!” Walker said, as he filled a bag with freshly roasted chestnuts for a customer. “Every year, I purchase 25 pounds of chestnuts for this event. Also, if you notice, each nut is scored beforehand, to make it easier for them to be opened. It’s about a two-and-a-half-hour process to score all of the nuts, and then I store them in a dry place, until the next day. I soak these in sugar water, before I put them on the roaster here.”

While Walker said he faithfully runs this stand every year, because of the good its proceeds do through his club’s local and international charity work for children, he has a more personally meaningful reason to keep the tradition alive.

“My dad started this, years ago. I took the tradition on after him,” Walker, who has been a Shepherdstown Kiwanis Club member for 22 years, said. “That’s one of the main reasons I decided to continue doing this.”

Mike Walker, of Shepherdstown, fills a bag with freshly roasted chestnuts in front of the Old Market House on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

The process of running the stand has been refined, through the years of his father’s running the stand and his own 17 years of doing the same.

“Every year, I purchase 25 pounds of chestnuts for this event. Also, if you notice, each nut is scored beforehand, to make it easier for them to be opened. It’s about a two-and-a-half-hour process to score all of the nuts, and then I store them in a dry place until the next day,” Walker said.” I do soak these in sugar water, before I put them on the roaster here.”

Across the street from the stand, attendees could be seen participating in many of the recurring Christmas in Shepherdstown kickoff traditions, including making s’mores at a fire pit in front of Town Hall, run by the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department, listening to Mrs. Claus read classic Christmas stories in front of McMurran Hall and watching the town’s Christmas tree being lit on McMurran Hall’s lawn, following a greeting by Mayor Jim Auxer.

“When thinking of our town, I know that we try to make every day feel like Christmas. We are giving and a forgiving community. We mark the special times in our lives in many ways, and tonight’s celebration is one of them,” Auxer said.

Auxer thanked a number of local individuals and groups for continuing their own traditions, in making Christmas in Shepherdstown come to life, including Lori Robertson, Judy Shepherd and Jenny Haynes, for organizing the event; the Shepherdstown Rotary Club for decorating McMurran Hall and the Christmas tree; Dan & Bryan Trees for providing the Christmas tree; and the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department for driving Santa Claus down German Street in one of the department’s engines, to hear children’s Christmas wishes and take photos with attendees inside of McMurran Hall.

Mrs. Claus reads, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” by Dr. Seuss, as characters reenact the story beside her, in front of McMurran Hall on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

“Tonight, the lighting of this beautiful tree is in celebration of our town,” Auxer said. “Let the festivities begin — light the tree!”

Mayor Jim Auxer provides a Christmas greeting to Christmas in Shepherdstown kickoff attendees, before the lighting of the Christmas tree at McMurran Hall on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston