This past weekend’s annual Christmas parade, "The Gifts of Christmas," and other events in Mathews went unbelievably well, according to Ann Miller, director of the Mathews County Visitor and Information Center. There were 36 entries in this year’s parade and "it went smoothly and didn’t rain," she said.

Miller said her husband, Art, has been walking with the Bay School Cultural Arts Center’s parade entry for the past several years. "He told me he had never seen this many people at the Mathews parade," Miller said. Residents and visitors lined both sides of the street stretching the entire parade route from Thomas Hunter Middle School to the Bank of America building, she added.

Attendance at this year’s Santa Claus visit to MCVIC on Friday was also better than last year, Miller said. Parents were encouraged to bring their own cameras and the center provided Santa Claus and a setting for photos to be taken.

"It seem...