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SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of children and their parents chanted for Santa's arrival just moments before he made his grand entrance on his sleigh Thursday evening at City Creek Center as the shopping center kicked off this year's Christmas festivities.
Santa wasn't alone in ushering in the holidays, as elaborate window displays made of candy were unveiled outside of Macy's, and the shopping center hosted a holiday fountain show.
The celebrations are the biggest of the year at City Creek Center, said Linda Wardell, the shopping center's general manager, who said preparing for the evening is a full-time effort.
"It's really our favorite night of the year. … We're really starting to work on this even the day after it ends," Wardell said.
Wardell said she is happy with City Creek Center's decision to begin Christmas a little early, saying the center has done so before Thanksgiving every year since it was completed in 2012.
"Customers really tell us when they're ready to start the holiday season," she said, adding that she walked around the stores last week and wondered whether the mall should include more Christmas then. "This is really the right time for us."
The six candy displays presented at Macy's drew cheers from well over 100 children and other onlookers along Main Street. The displays, each shaped like a spherical ornament, all weigh around 150 pounds and are made from licorice, rock candy, gum balls and gummies, said Chad Young, visual manager for Macy's and City Creek.
Chocolate and taffies are excluded from the artwork because they would melt and make a mess, Young said. This year's theme was the gang from the Peanuts comic strip.
The six displays were revealed with the help of 5-year-old Ava "Lulu" Stutsman, who suffers from acute myeloid leukemia. Lulu ceremoniously submitted the first letter of the season to Santa.
Other than her name, Lulu simply "wrote squiggles" to Santa, said her mother, Joddie Stutsman.
"He will understand," Stutsman said.
Each letter submitted to Santa at any Macy's store "Believe" mailbox will raise $1 toward the Make-A-Wish Foundation, store officials said. Lulu, a Make-A-Wish kid, wants to swim with dolphins.
Stutsman praised the Christmas season campaign for increasing awareness about children who suffer from life-threatening illnesses.
"It's hard getting back to the swing of being a kid and knowing what they'd like to do after doing what they have to do all the time," she said.
Thursday's unveiling of the candy displays was also a big deal for the artists, Young said. Volunteers submit proposals several months in advance, and the artists who are selected are each given a ball to work from beginning in September. The projects take many hours all the way through the last week, when there's "a lot of gluing," he said.
"I never am able to pick a favorite," he said. "They get better and better every year."
