Overly's Country Christmas brings holiday tradition to Westmoreland Fairgrounds during pandemic

Almost nothing this year is normal, but at Overly’s Country Christmas, the lights still twinkle, the carols still play and Santa Claus still waves to excited children who lean out their car windows for a better look.

The show opened Thursday at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds in Mt. Pleasant Township.

The Christmas light show has been a Westmoreland County tradition since 1956, but this year it was far from a sure thing. Until a few months ago, it looked like it might not happen, said treasurer Joyce Wilkinson-Rettura.

Covid-19 precautions made many aspects of the event unfeasible, and that wasn’t organizers’ only obstacle. Stephanie Tomasic, the longtime executive director of Overly’s Country Christmas, died in July.

“Stephanie Tomasic wasn’t just our leader, our organizer, our mentor. She was our friend,” Wilkinson-Returra said. “We lost that guidance.”

Leaderless and facing a pandemic, organizers considered canceling the event.

“To be quite honest with you, we had planned on probably not opening this year,” Wilkinson-­Returra said.

That changed in September, when a group of volunteers decided to find a way to open.

“They said, ‘Can’t we do this? Can’t we somehow open to give something back to our community?’ ” Wilkinson-Returra said.

They pulled it off, with some changes.

In a normal year, visitors can get out of their vehicles and mill about a Christmas village to buy food and gifts and huddle around a bonfire.

This year, because of the pandemic, visitors must stay in their vehicles while driving through the many light displays. This year features displays new and old.

Organizers have set up a drive-thru shop selling kettle corn, fudge and gifts, but not the full menu of a usual year.

Laurel Yungwirth of Carnegie usually cooks burgers in the Overly’s Country Christmas kitchen. This year, there is no kitchen and no burgers, but Yungwirth is helping out in any way she can.

She started volunteering at Overly’s Country Christmas when she was 12. She is 33 now and can’t imagine spending a holiday season without her fellow volunteers.

“A lot of these faces, I’ve been seeing for the 20 years that I’ve been coming up here,” she said. “It’s my family away from my family.”

Randy John has volunteered for 29 years, ever since the event moved to the fairgrounds from the home of founder Harry Overly. He said it is important the tradition continues.

“Let’s open it up and let them come out and drive through, still have the spirit of Christmas … that keeps us going,” he said. “Otherwise, if we skip a year, this could end.”

Volunteers held a memorial service for Tomasic on Wednesday.

“Even though this is different due to the pandemic, it’s extremely different without Stephanie,” Wilkinson-Rettura said.

Overly’s Country Christmas has reduced hours due to the pandemic.

It’s open Thursdays through Sundays from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., though it is closed on Thanksgiving. It will be open nearly every night from Dec. 21-30, except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The cost is $20 per vehicle.