victoriavm Activities, Depot & Train Museums, Donate, fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Santa in the Caboose, Sundays at the Depot, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam, Volunteer

Santa in the Caboose 2025

Mark your calendars for this year’s
๐ŸŽ… ๐’๐€๐๐“๐€ ๐ˆ๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‚๐€๐๐Ž๐Ž๐’๐„! ๐Ÿšƒ
โžœ ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’…๐’‚๐’š, ๐‘ซ๐’†๐’„๐’†๐’Ž๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ 13: 10 ๐’‚.๐’Ž. ๐’•๐’ 3 ๐’‘.๐’Ž.
โžœ ๐‘บ๐’–๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’š, ๐‘ซ๐’†๐’„๐’†๐’Ž๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ 14: ๐’๐’๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’ 3 ๐’‘.๐’Ž.
๐Ÿ’ธ Give a donation to see Santa (our 28th annual!) and support the upkeep (and heating!) of the Historical Park!
๐Ÿ“ธ Take as many personal photos & videos as youโ€™d like!
๐Ÿช Be sure to shop our Holiday Bake Sale and holiday stocking stuffers as well!
*๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ด, ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด!

Want to volunteer for the event? Email us at [email protected]!

victoriavm Activities, Community Callout, Depot & Train Museums, Donate, fundraiser, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society

Donate your Halloween stuff!

๐ŸŽƒ๐——๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—›๐—ฎ๐—น๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜† ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ๐˜† ๐˜€๐˜๐˜‚๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐—›๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐— ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ๐˜‚๐—บ๐˜€!
โ˜ ๏ธWe are planning something spooky and fun for 2026 and we could use your help!
๐Ÿ‘ปCan’t fit all those Halloween items into the garage? Consider donating them to us! ๐Ÿฆ‡Email [email protected]!

victoriavm Activities, Barrel Train, Central Market, Depot & Train Museums, Franklin Center Museum, fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Sundays at the Depot, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam, Town History Museum, Volunteer

This weekend!

It’s a busy weekend for the Historical Society!!
๐Ÿš‚Friday – LAST Barrel Train at Central Market for the Season!
๐Ÿš‚Saturday – Barrel Train at Safety Day at Central Park!
๐Ÿ›๏ธSaturday – The TOWN HISTORY Museum at the Franklin Center will be open!
๐Ÿ›ค๏ธSunday – Visit the Depot and Train Museums! Tour guides will be available. Parents of Beiriger 3rd Graders – come see what your kids learned this week!

victoriavm Blog Posts, Depot & Train Museums, fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, History Notes, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam, The Tower

๐Ž๐ง๐œ๐ž ๐”๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐š ๐“๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ – ๐๐š๐ซ๐ญ ๐Ÿ’

๐™Š๐™ช๐™ง ๐™Ž๐™ค๐™˜๐™ž๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฎ ๐™Ž๐™–๐™œ๐™– – ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™๐™ค๐™ฌ๐™š๐™ง
๐“๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐“๐จ๐ฐ๐ž๐ซ!

It was 25 years ago, and we are still grateful to everyone who donated time and money to help us preserve the Tower and save it from demolition.

Thanks to the businesses and banks that allowed us to put donation jars on their counters, and thanks to all the Griffith residents who put money in the jars! Thanks to all the Historical Society members, who volunteered every step of the way, and of course, thank you to all the people and businesses who donated money towards this gigantic project!

It was really a town-wide effort, and is a monument to the spirit of Griffith!

victoriavm Activities, Barrel Train, fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Griffith Junction Butterfly Stop, Monarch Waystation, Sundays at the Depot, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam

No rain can keep us from having Butterfly Day!

โ˜”๏ธ๐—ช๐—˜๐—”๐—ง๐—›๐—˜๐—ฅ ๐—จ๐—ฃ๐——๐—”๐—ง๐—˜:
๐Ÿฆ‹๐‘ฉ๐‘ผ๐‘ป๐‘ป๐‘ฌ๐‘น๐‘ญ๐‘ณ๐’€ ๐‘ซ๐‘จ๐’€ ๐‘ฐ๐‘บ ๐‘ถ๐‘ต!!

โ€ข The Barrel Train will NOT be running
โ€ข The Depot and Train Musems WILL be open
โ€ข Our flower & butterfly experts will be inside
โ€ข The rest of the fun will be inside!

๐‘ต๐’†๐’Š๐’•๐’‰๐’†๐’“ ๐’“๐’‚๐’Š๐’, ๐’๐’๐’“ ๐’„๐’๐’๐’…, ๐’๐’๐’“ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’…๐’” ๐’•๐’‰๐’‚๐’• ๐’ƒ๐’๐’๐’˜ ๐’˜๐’Š๐’๐’ ๐’Œ๐’†๐’†๐’‘ ๐’–๐’” ๐’‡๐’“๐’๐’Ž ๐’‰๐’‚๐’—๐’Š๐’๐’ˆ ๐’๐’–๐’“ ๐‘ฉ๐’–๐’•๐’•๐’†๐’“๐’‡๐’๐’š ๐‘ซ๐’‚๐’š!

victoriavm Activities, fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Griffith Junction Butterfly Stop, Monarch Waystation, Sundays at the Depot, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam

Get your butterfly-friendly plants!

๐Ÿฆ‹๐—ช๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ด๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ป?
๐ŸŒป๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€!!
๐Ÿ‘‹Join us on Sunday to get your butterfly-friendly plants, and learn more about these amazing creatures!
๐Ÿš‚Griffith Depot & Train Museums – Corner of Broad St & Ave A, next to the tracks!
๐Ÿ™Thanks Scheeringa Farms & Greenhouses for helping us choose plants butterflies love!

victoriavm Activities, Blog Posts, fundraiser, Santa in the Caboose, Sundays at the Depot, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam

Santa in the Caboose THANK YOU!

โœจTHANK YOU THANK YOU!
๐ŸŽ…This year’s Santa in the Caboose was a huge success thanks to every visitor and so many volunteers!
๐Ÿš‚This event is fun for everyone and has a huge impact in funding the upkeep of the Depot and Train Park!

๐ŸŽ„Thanks to our old friends who come every year, and to the new friends who found us this year.
๐ŸชThanks to the Scouts and Leaders of Griffith Girl Scout Troop 15620 for baking cookies for us to sell at our bake sale and for being part of the fun with their holiday hair club and headbands.
๐ŸŒญThanks to Griffith Cub Scout Pack 622 for again selling hot dogs and hot chocolate up at the Park during the event.
๐ŸฅงThank you TriKappa for donating baked goods!
๐ŸซThanks to the Griffith Public Schools for helping get the word out about Santa in the Caboose.
๐ŸŒณThanks to the Park Department for sharing the info at Central Park.
๐ŸขThanks to all the businesses that let us put flyers in their windows.
๐Ÿ‘‹Hopefully we didn’t forget anyone!!
๐Ÿ™‹โ€โ™€๏ธAnd a huge thanks all the Griffith Historical Society members who decorated the Depot and railcars, worked to promote the event, made goodies to sell, and made the event run smoothly!!
โœจA special shoutout to volunteers/members Karen, Nancy, Martha Belinda, John, Laura, Valerie, Debbie, Jim and Beth for making this weekend a success!

๐ŸŽ…๐ŸคถAnd, of course, a big thanks to Santa and Mrs. Claus!

We had a wonderful time and we’ll see you next year!!

victoriavm Activities, fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Santa in the Caboose, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam

Santa in the Caboose!

Reminder, mark your calendars for this year’s

๐ŸŽ… ๐’๐€๐๐“๐€ ๐ˆ๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‚๐€๐๐Ž๐Ž๐’๐„! ๐Ÿšƒ

โžœ ๐‘บ๐’‚๐’•๐’–๐’“๐’…๐’‚๐’š, ๐‘ซ๐’†๐’„๐’†๐’Ž๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ 14: 10 ๐’‚.๐’Ž. ๐’•๐’ 3 ๐’‘.๐’Ž.
โžœ ๐‘บ๐’–๐’๐’…๐’‚๐’š, ๐‘ซ๐’†๐’„๐’†๐’Ž๐’ƒ๐’†๐’“ 15: ๐’๐’๐’๐’ ๐’•๐’ 3 ๐’‘.๐’Ž..

๐Ÿ’ธ Give a donation to see Santa (our 27th annual!) and support the upkeep (and heating!) of the Historical Park!
๐Ÿ“ธ Take as many personal photos as youโ€™d like โ€“ you can even record the visit on your phone!
๐Ÿช Be sure to shop our Holiday Bake Sale and the holiday stocking stuffers that Girl Scout Troop 15620 will be offering.

๐ŸŒญโ˜•๏ธ Hot dogs and hot chocolate will be sold by Griffith Cub Scout Pack 622 and Griffith Boy Scout Pack 623.๐Ÿš‚๐Ÿงฒ Griffith train magnets will be available for sale.

*๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏโ€™๐˜ต ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ด, ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด!

victoriavm fundraiser, Santa in the Caboose, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam

Griffith Magnets make great Stocking Stuffers!

๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—˜๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—š๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ต ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜€ ๐Ÿš‚๐Ÿงฒ
make GREAT stocking stuffers!! ๐Ÿงฆ๐ŸŽ„
$5 each – local pickup
(We’ll also have them for sale at Santa in the Caboose!)
We can ship multiple magnets for a flat $4 fee!

Your purchases and donations go directly to helping maintain our Depot & Train Park and the Franklin Museum! We are all volunteers and we appreciate your support!

victoriavm Activities, fundraiser, Griffith Depot and Historical Park, Santa in the Caboose, Support the Depot, Support the Historical Society, Support the Rail-Cam

๐ŸŽ… ๐’๐€๐๐“๐€ ๐ˆ๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‚๐€๐๐Ž๐Ž๐’๐„ 2024 ๐Ÿšƒ

We know it’s not even Halloween yet, but mark your calendars for this year’s
๐ŸŽ… ๐’๐€๐๐“๐€ ๐ˆ๐ ๐“๐‡๐„ ๐‚๐€๐๐Ž๐Ž๐’๐„! ๐Ÿšƒ
โžœ ๐’๐š๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐ƒ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ’: ๐Ÿ๐ŸŽ ๐š.๐ฆ. ๐ญ๐จ ๐Ÿ‘ ๐ฉ.๐ฆ.
โžœ ๐’๐ฎ๐ง๐๐š๐ฒ, ๐ƒ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ“: ๐ง๐จ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐Ÿ‘ ๐ฉ.๐ฆ.

Our 27th annual Santa in the Caboose (minus two Covid years) is scheduled for Saturday, December 14, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, December 15th, from noon to 3 p.m.

With winter illnesses in mind, we are minimizing the size of our crew working in the small caboose. So, we are again not taking or printing photos.

Instead, we are asking for a donation to see Santa. Your donation helps pay the bills, which grow in the winter, having to heat the Depot and the Tower.

When youโ€™re with Santa, you can take as many personal photos as you wish. You can even record the visit on your phone! Looking forward to seeing you in December!

We will again be having our Holiday Bake Sale in the Depot on both days, too. And Girl Scout Troop 15620 will again be with us, offering holiday hair clips and headbands for sale.