Glen Brunken, 3, and his mother, Alex McNeill, build a Christmas ornament at Ginger Hill Tavern's ornament and letters to Santa station during Saturday's Slippery Rock Christmas Market.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

While thoughts of the coronavirus pandemic were never far from their minds, revelers turned out in Slippery Rock Saturday to celebrate the start of the holiday season, walking part of Main Street closed to traffic, visiting kiosks and stands of vendors and local business owners.

Two separate events, a Christmas Market and a socially-distanced Santa visit, coincided for Saturday's cheerful atmosphere.

Streams of people were greeted with live music coming from Ginger Hill Tavern, a restaurant and pub, along with dozens of other attractions and holiday fare.

And for children, a stand was set up by the restaurant where they could write letters to Santa in lieu of sitting on his lap and decorate Christmas tree ornaments.

Around 6 p.m., Santa was spotted riding down Main Street in a horse-drawn carriage to light up the Christmas tree.

“I love it. It's everybody getting together and having fun, even with the virus going on,” said Kristin Pascoe, who moved to the Slippery Rock area along with her daughter, Airianna. “We just moved to Slippery Rock so we're trying to meet new people and this is the perfect place to do it. This is like Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls.”

Read more in Monday's Butler Eagle.