A long-standing tradition in Omena is the arrival of Santa Claus at the Omena Community Room in the Fire Hall. We are always on his schedule for Christmas Eve. Eric Hallett was a teenager when he first brought Santa into Omena on the fire truck. For a few years, a family with sled dogs lived in Omena and Santa came down Tatch Road in the sled. Before the Community Room was built, everyone gathered in the firehouse — no heat and a cement floor, but still always fun!
The festivities begin at 2:30 p.m. this year with cookies and caroling leading up to Santa’s arrival at the Community Room. It’s a fun community event for young and old alike!
At the other end of town from the Fire Hall stands the Omena Presbyterian Church (OPC). The OPC, originally the Presbyterian Mission Church, was built in 1858, six years after Reverend Peter Dougherty founded it as part of his Mission Boarding School on Omena Heights in 1852. When the building was dedicated, it was named the Grove Hill New Mission Church. The Mission Church served both the Indians and the white settlers. The Presbyterian Church closed the Mission school and farm in 1867, shortly after the Civil War. Dougherty continued to preach at the church until 1871, when he retired and left the area. The Craker and Aghosa families kept the church open and taught Sunday school, but there were no regular services. The Reverend George N. Smith, the Congregational minister who founded Northport, held occasional services in the Mission Church, as did other Northport Congregational ministers.
