Yes.. here we go again. Another nostalgic Coal Speaker post about the ‘malls’.. The nonstop posts. The memories. The melodrama that is the shiny halls of yesteryear.
Forgive us the cardinal sin. We go back, yet again, in time.
For this edition of sad stories from yesteryear, we go to a Pottsville REPUBLICAN AND HERALD article from November 13, 2003.
Business writer Andrea Turano wrote that “the holiday season’s favorite man in red is making his trip to two local malls this weekend.”
Both the Fairline Village Mall and Schuylkill Mall were getting their Santa.. At the Fairline, the first 100 kids enjoyed a plush teddy bear with their photo with Santa. They were welcomed by a performance by Allian Productions called “Christmas Chaos with Mrs. Claus.”
The larger Schuylkill Mall went more hardcore with a mall-wide holiday parade that began at Black Diamond and ended at center court. Not only that, but we had the Powerpuff Girls and soldiers in stilts. Pretty exciting when you think about it, no?
Also in center court in Frackville, the Raggin Piano Boogie Man, who played piano on the back of a truck with his dog on top..
So let’s consider the time .. the moment.
2003.. the war on terror was in full swing .. the war in Iraq was raging. The culture was perplexed by danger and fraught with fear–at the time people were busy lining their house in duct tape for anthrax attacks. Chaos was besieging the Middle East. The world felt at war..
20 years on.. we feel the same. Battle lines changed. Countries in the limelight are different, but terrorism exists all the same.
Santa.. that fantastic November 20 years back, landed during chaos and crisis.
This year, Santa has fewer malls to visit..
Where will he end up?
And will the Raggin Piano Boogie Man follow?
