Every year our small town holds a Christmas event where everyone gathers together downtown. Downtown is completely shut off and the streets are lined with vendors selling their products, delicious food, hot chocolate stands, rides, games, carriage rides, and pictures with Santa. Some of the stores stay open late so people can shop. The performance center held a concert this year. 

The event starts off with a small parade which only consists of the middle school marching band playing Christmas songs followed by Mr. and Mrs. Clause. Everyone watching the parade follows Santa up the street to a small Christmas tree. The band plays, announcements are made, the tree is lit and the festivities begin! 

It was in the 20’s Friday night so we decided to stop in the art gallery to warm up. There was a glassblowing demonstration going on so we watched that for a few minutes. It is a small building and there were a lot of people watching with us, so it was hard to see. 

As you can see downtown gets crowded! 

I take a picture of my daughter like this every year at this event. Since she’s almost a teenager now she is against smiling for pictures. 

Bouncy houses and a blow up obstacle course made an appearance this year. I thought it was cute that this bouncy house looked like a giant gift box. A gift full of bouncing, screaming kids that have eaten too much sugar!

The Farmer’s Market held a Christmas Tree stand along with more people selling their handmade products. Children were singing Christmas carols behind the market. 

This sign in the middle of the street told you where everything was. 

The horse and buggy ride was actually mules. Luckily they were not very stubborn. The ride goes around behind the inn, which also happens to be haunted. (We didn’t see any ghosts.) 

After the carriage ride, we walked down a path beside the inn that led to a big tent. It was so still and quiet on the path. The only sounds were the popping and crackling from a firepit surrounded by chairs and the jingling of the bells attached to the mules pulling the buggies. 

Inside the tent were Christmas trees decorated by local businesses. You could vote on your favorite one by placing a dollar bill in the box by the tree you wanted to vote for. Each business had chosen a charity of their choice where the money would be donated to. I’m not going to add all the pictures here, but I have to show you this one. 

This tree is from a law office in town. The sign on top of the tree says:  

Too funny!!

Here is a picture of the inn. I think it’s so pretty all decorated for Christmas! Last year we were able to tour inside the inn. It’s beautiful on the inside! There was a huge Christmas tree beautifully decorated in the main room. They had cookies and apple cider for visitors and moonshine tasting for the adults. (I didn’t try any, but heard it was good.) 

The Coca Cola bottling plant (built in 1920) is now a restaurant. They decorated it so pretty for Christmas! It is across the street from the performance center. Across the side street is the inn. 

After freezing for a while we ran down the street to find the car. It was so cold that my cheeks didn’t lose the redness until Sunday! 

I look forward to this event every year. It always makes me feel like Christmas is definitely here! This is what Christmas looks like in our town.

What does your town do for Christmas?

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