Oakdale residents and many from neighboring communities took advantage of the opportunity to officially welcome in the holiday season on Saturday. A portion of North Third Avenue was closed off to vehicle traffic, set up with vendor booths, food, music, horse drawn wagon rides and more, as part of the city’s Downtown Christmas celebration. Later on, Santa continued the festivities at Oakdale in Wonderland for an evening of fun.

Shopper Nancy Kern was busy looking for some Christmas presents to send to relatives in other states, taking into account their team preferences when looking at some specialty items.

Members of the Sierra 4-H group out of Oakdale hosted a petting zoo with a variety of animals, Stueve Organic Dairy had its horse teams hitched up and provided attendees with wagon rides around the downtown area, the clip clop of horse’s hooves echoing throughout the festival area. Stores along the avenue also had some special offers to entice in shoppers.

It was a sunny, but chilly day in the Cowboy Capital, providing the perfect backdrop for the start of the holiday shopping season.