Santa Claus, parades kick off Christmas throughout county

St. Bridget’s Catholic Church of Scammon drives down Main Street in the city’s Christmas parade earlier this month. The parish’s float, which celebrates their 150th year as a church, recently won first place in Columbus’ Christmas parade. Photo by Jacob Spencer.
St. Bridget’s Catholic Church of Scammon drives down Main Street in the city’s Christmas parade earlier this month. The parish’s float, which celebrates their 150th year as a church, recently won first place in Columbus’ Christmas parade. Photo by Jacob Spencer.

Ringing in the Christmas season for one and all, multiple Cherokee County cities celebrated the upcoming holidays with festive parades over the weekend. Riverton, Baxter Springs, Galena and Scammon all had citizens lining their streets to celebrate with a variety of flashy floats on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Kicking things off at noon on Saturday, Riverton was first to show their holiday spir…