Sunday, December 7, 2008

My Swiss Christmas (Strolling Down in Main St., Midway, Utah)

On Saturday, December 6th, I checked out this Swiss Christmas Festival in Midway, Utah, a quaint old town just 6 miles from me. It was more than a Strolling Down experience but a humbling one instead. This is Midway Town Hall where they held this yearly traditional Swiss Christmas program and Swiss Market. My Christmas childhood came back haunting me again as I saw little girls dancing and doing ballet, some piano playing, and solo and choir singing classic Christmas music. There were about few hundreds of people, mostly local folks, who came to watch the programs.

This moose and bear sculpture were displayed outside this town hall.


As I strolled down this old Swiss town, I took photos of all the landmarks on Main St. This is Midway Mercantile, an antique store. There's more antique stores in this town than anywhere else I've been.

This is the side walk where I was strolling at. Notice the beautiful mountain backdrop. If you've been to Switzerland, you'll feel the similarity.


This is Edelweiss Gallery. There are quite a few impressionist artists and painters in this small town so you'll see fine art galleries everywhere. I like going in to these galleries and meeting the artist and knowing their inspiration for their art. Most of these buildings were built in the late 1800's.

This is the biggest and tallest pine tree that I've ever seen. This has been around for more than a hundred years.

Gigantic logs displayed on an empty lot. These interesting old houses were preserved to keep the Swiss heritage and culture alive in Midway. It's a law in this town that if you are building a new house or structure, it has to be Swiss-themed from the outside architectural design and color. This is Midway Adventure Company. There are an array of winter (and summer) activities in this town such as snowmobiling, snowshoeing, tubing, and cross-country skiing. The only thing missing is the SNOW!
Horse drawn carriages were roaming around town on this day for $15 a ride! I remember we have 'Kalesa' rides in Gasan, Marinduque, but with wooden wheels! This one has the same wheels as your bicycle! This horse is HUGE! Our Philippine horse will look like a donkey compared to this one.
OK. This part has melted my heart. These were Swiss Carollers outside the street! I hung out here almost tearfully. I never felt more humbled and Christmas-spirited! I suddenly missed my family Christmas tradition in my old hometown of Sta. Cruz, Marinduque... and my old friends when we used to do carolling singing in our neighborhood.

No comments:

Subscribe Now: Feed Icon