By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
ELLIS — The annual Ellis Polar Express will roll back into this weekend.
The three-day event begins at 6 p.m. Friday with the running of the holiday miniature train until 9 p.m. around the Ellis Railroad Museum miniature train tracks, 911 Washington.
“This is a lighted Christmas train ride," said Dena Patee, Ellis Polar Express committee member. “We put up Christmas lights all around the little miniature train tracks and different lighted displays. And then we just send people out in the dark and cold. And it's magical.”
“It's also a way for the community to kick off the holiday season,” said Dan Pyle, Ellis Polar Express Committee president and Ellis Recreation director.
Saturday’s activities include train rides, live music by an Ellis community band and cookies with Santa at the Ellis Public Library from 6 to 9 p.m.
On Sunday, the train will run again from 6 to 8 p.m., but activities begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Ellis Recreation Free Candy Cane Hunt.
A $5 freewill donation is suggested for entry, with proceeds going to future community events.
This year will mark the first time the event can take full advantage of the recently revamped park and miniature train depot.
“Just getting to use all of our spaces again, it's really, really nice,” Patee said. “Having Santa back in his own little workshop, that makes it nice because the kids get their time with Santa, and the parents get that chance to get their pictures.”
In 2019 and 2020, the event was drive-through only, due to the COVID pandemic. Last year, the depot was not yet available for use.
“This is our first year that we're going to be able to go back, line up through the depot, load the train correctly, and be back to normal,” said Cheryl Kinderknecht, Polar Express committee member.
Along with using the park for the first time in years, new displays have also been added to the route.
“We’ve got at least six new displays for 2022,” Pyle said. “My crew and I have been checking bulbs, cords and displays for about a month, and we think we are ready to go.”
In previous years, the Ellis Polar Express has had over 800 riders in one night. This year, the Ellis Polar Express plans a total of 2,000 riders for the three nights.
While all three days are expected to bring hundreds of people downtown, Pyle said Saturday would likely be the busiest night, as Santa plans to visit with children in the library’s Community Room.
This year marks the 13th anniversary of the event, and in that time has evolved and grown over the years.
“The Polar Express movie was really big at the time. And it's like, why can't we do a for Polar Express thing,” Kinderknecht said. "And then it just kind of has grown from there because we went from live vignettes to more of the blowups to the actual live displays. So, it’s definitely grown since its very meager beginnings.”
The event has grown thanks to community involvement, Patee said.
“We do get quite a bit of support through grants and other donations,” she said. “Without that kind of funding, we would not be able to do this. And we greatly appreciate everybody's assistance this year.”
“Those donors really do help us get those new displays,” Pyle said.
And Patee said they appreciate the many volunteers that help run the event.
“That is the one fun little piece that no one really understands about how this works, is how many people are working behind the scenes that you don't see,” Patee said. “The people that are watching the crossings, for the patrons to walk in front of the train, making sure that the people that are taking money, and making sure people get on the train and off the train and around the family, and the characters, and people making sure that the displays are still lit, and something hasn't gone drastically wrong. … There's a ton of things to do, so anybody that wants to volunteer, we can put them to work.”
Correction: The story was updated to reflect the Candy Cane Hunt's timing on Sunday, not Saturday. Hays Post apologizes for the error.