WRAL Winter Wonderland Brings Holiday Cheer Despite Damp Weather

From WRAL-TV's Heather Gray at the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: WRAL-TV staffers volunteer at the WRAL Winter Wonderland

The rain and cold could not dampen the fun at the 2nd Annual WRAL Winter Wonderland on the campus of St. Marys School in Raleigh on Saturday, November 23, 2019. Crowds gathered early to kick off the holiday season with the post-Raleigh Christmas Parade event.

Some folks lined up before 10am to make sure they were able to get their sledding, snow globing and Santa time in before the rain started, said WRAL-TV Brand Manager Heather Gray.

She continued, We saw hundreds of visitors on what was a bigger wonderland footprint this year. We planned for double the number of activities and that paid off when the rain started picking up, families were able to move under the tent to create their own ornament or pick up coloring pages.

WRAL-TV had several very special guests on hand. Jerry Springer, of the FOX 50 show Judge Jerry, greeted fans and signed autographs. And Santa and Mrs. Claus posed for photos and visited with all the boys and girls both young and old.

The WRAL Winter Wonderland event serves as a holiday gift for the community from Capitol Broadcasting, a way to extend the celebratory day after the stations live coverage of the Raleigh Christmas Parade.

WRAL-TV Anchor/Reporter Renee Chou served as co-host of the parade broadcast with her morning news partner WRAL-TV Anchor/Reporter Jeff Hogan.

46 years of the WRAL live broadcast and it has never rained during a Christmas Parade until . today, she posted after the parade. So this will go down in the history books! Three hours of commercial-free, live coverage with the BEST team around went by quickly. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Watch the WRAL-TV broadcast of the 2019 Raleigh Christmas Parade

From NMG's Laura Worthingon from the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: WRAL-TV's David Crabtree snaps a selfie with Santa & Mrs. Claus

Chou and a full line-up of WRAL talent spent time with viewers at the Winter Wonderland.

Despite it being cold and rainy, we had a great time! said WRAL-TV Anchor/Reporter Debra Morgan.

The WRAL Weather Team played a large role in the success of the event.

Thanks to the WRAL meteorologists forecasting we were well prepared with rain contingencies and knew what to expect, said Gray. Our hearty, rugged cross-divisional/departmental volunteers stuck with us through the weather and helped many families kick off their holiday season.

WRAL-TV Vice President & General Manager Joel Davis agreed with Grays sentiments about the WRAL team.

This is a huge lift by the entire team to pull off an event of this magnitude, said Davis. We couldnt pull off the parade or Winter Wonderland without such great employees. It was terrific to see the viewers respond by making the parade coverage on WRAL the highest rated program of the entire day on any station.

Happy Holidays from Capitol Broadcasting!

Thanks to WRAL-TVs Heather Gray, Debra Morgan, Ken Smith, Randy Mews, NMGs Kathy Hanrahan, Laura Worthington & WRAL-FMs Jason Newton for these capcom photos.

From NMGs Kathy Hanrahan from the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: Hanrahan (right) & WRAL.com Intern Caitlin Richards try out the snowglobe.

From WRAL-TVs Heather Gray at the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: WRAL-TV staffers volunteer at the WRAL Winter Wonderland

From WRAL-TVs Heather Gray at the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: WRAL-TVs Kyle Lackore volunteers at WRALs Winter Wonderland

From NMGs Kathy Hanrahan from the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: Woo.l E Bull

From NMGs Laura Worthingon from the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: WRAL-TVs David Crabtree snaps a selfie with Santa & Mrs. Claus

From WRAL-TVs Debra Morgan at the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: My mini-me! Meredith was reporting for her Facebook page!

From WRAL-TVs Renee Chou from the 2019 Raleigh Christmas Parade on Saturday, November 23: Chou and Jeff Hogan host WRALs coverage of the parade.

From WRAL-TVs Renee Chou from the 2019 Raleigh Christmas Parade on Saturday, November 23: In the mobile command center (l to r), Greg Ziller, Mick Evans & Randy Mews

From WRAL-TVs Renee Chou from the 2019 Raleigh Christmas Parade on Saturday, November 23: Raining on the parade!

From WRAL-TVs Renee Chou from the 2019 Raleigh Christmas Parade on Saturday, November 23: With our incredible parade producers and the WRAL morning team! (l to r) Ken Smith, Don Ursich, Randy Mews, Renee Chou, Brian Shrader, Elizabeth Gardner & Jeff Hogan.

From WRAL-TVs Heather Gray at the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: FOX 50s Joanna Johnson (left) & Corps Shelly Leslie volunteer at WRALs Winter Wonderland

From NMGs Laura Worthingon from the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: The WRAL Winter Wonderland ice sculpture

From NMGs Kathy Hanrahan from the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: Parade characters visit the Wonderland

From NMGs Kathy Hanrahan from the 2019 WRAL Winter Wonderland on Saturday, November 23: Hanrahan (left) & NMGs Ashley Roddy pose for a photo with special guest Jerry Springer of Judge Jerry

From WRAL-TVs Randy Mews from the 2019 Raleigh Christmas Parade on Saturday, November 23: Behind the scenes in the mobile command center with (l to r, bottom clockwise) WRAL-TVs _______, Don Urisch, Randy Mews, Mick Evans & Greg Ziller

From WRAL-TVs Renee Chou from the 2019 Raleigh Christmas Parade on Saturday, November 23: With our incredible parade producers and the WRAL morning team! (l to r) Ken Smith, Don Ursich, Randy Mews, Renee Chou, Brian Shrader, Elizabeth Gard

LINK:	http://www.capitolbroadcasting.com/2019/11/26/wral-winter-wonderland-b...
	See more stories from cbc

Most recent headlines