Starry, Snowy, Southwest Night held at Bama Park

  • Published
  • By Airman Basic Nathan H. Barbour
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
DAVIS-MONTHAN AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  A free family event was held at Bama Park Dec. 3.

The annual "Starry, Snowy, Southwest Night" was organized by the 355th Force Support Squadron and Outdoor Recreation with approximately 30 volunteer Airmen assisting during the event.

Sixty tons of snow were split into two areas for people of all ages to play in and an ice rink was set up for skating. Other festivities included photos with Santa, story time with Buddy the Elf, a mechanical snowboard, arts and crafts and much more. Free hot chocolate and cookies were provided.

"Starry, Snowy, Southwest Night is meant to kick off the holiday season for the base, families and the troops," said Wendy Ozment, 355th FSS community services flight chief. "We wanted to simulate activities they could do in the snow because it's hot in Arizona."

U.S. Air Force Col. James Meger, 355th Fighter Wing commander, welcomed everyone at the event, then introduced Santa Claus during a tree lighting ceremony. Santa invited children of deployed Airmen to assist him in lighting the base tree of lights.

"To me, it's so impressive what [they do] to put this on because it means so much to my little kids," said Maj. Shannon Vinson, Community Resilience Center deputy community support coordinator. "It seems like a real team effort because you can see where everybody does something."

Approximately 2,000 Desert Lightning Team members and families attended the holiday festivities.