Lights On, Hendersonville is November 25
Hendersonville kicks off the holiday season on Friday, November 25, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. with its 7th Annual Holiday Street Lighting at the Historic Courthouse. Carriage and trolley rides, caroling, hot chocolate and cider help set a festive mood for the arrival of Santa Claus.
“Not only are the lights on the large spruce trees lit at this time,” says Lew Holloway, downtown economic development director, “but the switch for the lights installed throughout the downtown district is also flipped on, making for a magical evening to start the holiday season.”
The celebration began in 2010 as a joint project of community members, downtown merchants and city and county officials. Each year since, Holloway says, two volunteers—Paul Bakke of C & M Crane Service and Evan Shipp of Mountain Arborists Tree Service—have been instrumental in helping with logistics.
“The history of the event,” Holloway says, “includes a fun story with an event that was named, tongue-in-cheek, the ‘screw-in’ party. When the light strands arrived that first year, a few days before they were to be hung from the trees and lit, volunteers working to get the project off the ground were dismayed to find that the bulbs had not been installed on the strands. A busy evening and thousands of screw-ins later, the lights were ready for Paul and Evan.”
The event has grown every year, he says, and is an opening to the holiday shopping season for downtown’s many retailers and small businesses. “We feel the Street Lighting and the Old Fashioned Christmas event we host on December 2 are great ways to draw the community out to celebrate, in their fabulous downtown district, the beginning of a wonderful time of year.”
The Historic Courthouse is located on Main Street between 1st and 2nd avenues. For more information about the Holiday Street Lighting visit downtownhendersonville.org or call 828.233.3216.
