FROSTY THE SNOWMAN IS GETTING READY

TO RETURN TO HIS HOMETOWN OF ARMONK!

             ARMONK, NY --- The homecoming of America’s favorite snowman, Frosty, will be celebrated again this year with “Frosty Day” by his hometown of Armonk, New York on Saturday, December 8.  Activities and fun-filled family events will again be featured during the day, including a parade down Main Street and the annual Winter Walk.  

            For this year’s Frosty Day, local parade participants and volunteers as well as donors and sponsors are being now sought by Friends of Frosty, Inc., a non-profit group formed to promote the day’s activities and events as well as to help underwrite the costs associated with them.  In addition, Friends of Frosty will initiate a Winter Warmth project, “Help Frosty Help Others,” which will collect clean winter clothing, such as hats, gloves, scarves, mittens, parkas and coats, for those in need, at several locations around town.

Among the projects seeking funding this year are additional lighting in Wampus Brook Park, assistance to public safety groups involved with Frosty Day, underwriting children’s events sponsored by the Town of North Castle, and costs associated with the Frosty Parade.  In addition, Friends of Frosty is seeking help to promote the Frosty Day events, including the printing and distribution of a program and map outlining events and participation by area organizations, restaurants, businesses and merchants.

.  Tax deductible contributions of any amount can be mailed to Friends of Frosty, One Spruce Hollow, Armonk, NY 10504.  In addition, Frosty “Slush Fund” jars will be placed on various store counters around town.

In addition, merchants and shopkeepers in Armonk are encouraged to decorate their businesses for the holidays by Friday, December 7 as part of the annual Holiday Decorating Contest which is sponsored by the Green Acres Garden Club in association with the Armonk Chamber of Commerce.  Judging will occur that afternoon.

Last year’s Frosty Day saw more than a thousand people from the Tri-State region welcoming Frosty home to Armonk. It was also named one of the “10 Best Things To Do” in Westchester County by the Westchester County Office of Tourism.

While details of this year’s events are to be announced later, family activities will start at 2:00 in town, highlighted with the parade starting at 4:30 p.m. that will go down Main Street, then onto Bedford Avenue, past the “Village Square” mentioned in the song, to Wampus Brook Park for a gala holiday lighting ceremony. 

Since December 9 is the first day of Hanukkah, this year’s ceremony will feature the lighting of the first candle on the menorah at sundown.  After the holiday lighting, activities will continue with the Winter Walk through town, with visits to restaurants, merchants and businesses to welcome in the holidays.

            Located in the Town of North Castle, Armonk’s Historic District is the “Village Square” mentioned in the song’s lyrics where Frosty dared the children to “catch me if you can.” 

            The lyricist of the winter holiday classic, Steve Nelson, was a frequent visitor to Armonk after World War II from his home in nearby White Plains, NY.  In 1950, he wrote the song’s lyrics which he put to Jack Rollins’ music; it was the same year that he was looking for land in Armonk on which to build his new home.  Gene Autry recorded the song that year, making it an instant classic, following his earlier one of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

            Two years later, Steve Nelson moved his young family to Armonk, where he lived for the rest of his life until his death there in 1981.  In 1957, “Frosty the Snowman” was recorded again by Perry Como, solidifying it as a perennial song of the season.  This success was followed by an animated version in 1969, now seen annually on television.