Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

Christmas On the Trail At Burlingame Country Christmas December 2

Christmas is in the air all around and no more than at Burlingame, Kansas.

“The Chamber of Commerce and all of the community have again gone all out for our 28th annual Burlingame Country Christmas celebration titled the Christmas on the Trail, Saturday, Dec. 2,” according to Mark Hecht, Burlingame businessman and Chamber of Commerce official.

A chili cook-off is set for the Masonic Lodge with all entries welcome at 10 o’clock.

There’ll be judging and tasting up to 1:15, when awards are to be presented to the judge’s choice, people’s choice and hottest chili as well as most creative team name and most creative chili name. A chili lunch will be available benefitting the Burlingame 4-H Club.

The Bunting Ranch will offer free horse drawn hay rides starting at 10 o’clock, until 2 o’clock in the afternoon.

Additionally, an authentic chuck wagon display plans to serve free coffee.

A kids’ crafts fair is from 10 o’clock, until noon, when Santa Claus arrives from the North Pole. The Jolly Ole Elf is planning to pose for photographs with the young ones, who’ll be whispering in his ear, what they expect him to bring on Christmas Eve. Letters to Santa can also be put in his personal mailbox all day.

The Burlingame Country Christmas Vendor Fair opens at 11 o’clock, and will offer a wide assortment of the most unique Christmas specials by exhibitors from throughout the eastern part of the state. A silent auction of baskets as a fundraiser will be open for bidding during the fair, too.

Of course, the Christmas on the Trail will have everyone in a most holiday spirit throughout the day, but toes will officially start tapping up and down the Old Santa Fe Trail Main Street when the open mic live music show begins at 11 o’clock, and will continue until parade lineup time at 5 o’clock.

The Burlingame Band will strike up their first beat at 6 o’clock, Saturday evening, Dec. 2, officially opening the Parade of Lights, and climaxing a jam packed day of Christmas on the Trail activities at the 28th annual Burlingame Country Christmas.

The Festival of Trees is set for the Schuyler Museum, while a cookie and book sale is planned by Friends of the Library.

Always the most anticipated feature of a Burlingame Country Christmas is the Parade of Lights, attracting the broadest and widest array of participants from near and far, beginning with strike up of the band at precisely 6 o’clock.

Christmas is the air and the lightning as verified by this shining tree right along the Old Santa Fe Trail route, when the switch goes on climaxing Christmas on the Trail activities at the 28th annual Burlingame Country Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 2.

“All and all, it’ll be a full day for the Burlingame Country Christmas, the Christmas on the Trail, so we hope everybody comes out for a most enjoyable time of food, entertainment and shopping,” Hecht expressed a special welcome.

With a population of about 1,000 residents, Burlingame, founded in 1854, is nestled in northern Osage County. By 1869, Burlingame served as the first link for the Santa Fe Railway from Topeka, as the depot passengers connected with the Overland Stage on the Santa Fe Trail.

“As you pass through the underpass on the east edge of town, you have reached the first point where the Santa Fe Railway crosses the Santa Fe Trail,” Hecht pointed out.

Many visitors to our still prosperous rural community are unaware, but by the 1870s, the area was also thriving in the coal mining industry, Hecht noted, as well.

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