Christmas in the City returning to downtown Gastonia – New Bern Sun Journal

To kick off the month of December, the city of Gastonia plans to pull out all the stops in transforming Main Avenue into a Christmastime utopia.

The annual event that has come to be known as Christmas in the City will take place over three hours downtown on Sunday, Dec. 1. It will aim to draw hundreds of festive residents to the historic business district, while helping them become immersed in the holiday spirit.

The celebration will kick off as usual with the popular Christmas parade that is being organized once again by the Gaston Jaycees. It will follow its established path heading east down Main Avenue, starting near Chester Street and proceeding roughly half a mile to Broad Street.

Christine Carlson, the citys event planner, said there will be a total of 80 entries in the parade this year, with traditional floats, marching bands, unique vehicles and everything in between. The featured finale, as always, will be Santa Claus on a fire engine.

At the same time that the parade gets underway, the Christmas marketplace will open around the Rotary Centennial Pavilion. It will feature about three dozen craft and business vendors, along with several food trucks selling meals and other seasonal treats. Free activities in the area will include face-painting, Sno-Globe photos and balloon twisting, as well as booths where children can make their own Christmas ornaments, color, and write letters to Santa.

Elevation Church Gaston will be giving out hot chocolate at no charge, and complimentary goody bags will be handed out at the event.

As the parade wraps up around 4:45 p.m., Keep Gastonia Beautiful will host the start of a holiday concert around the Rotary Pavilion. That will lead into Santa Claus himself flipping the switch to light the Christmas tree under the pavilion at 5:30 p.m. After that, children will be able to visit with Santa, telling him what presents theyd like to wake up to on Christmas morning.

Musical performances during the concert and tree lighting ceremony will be provided by the Gaston Symphonic Band, the W.A. Bess fifth-grade chorus, the York Chester Middle School Jazz Band, and the Roaring Panther Band of Pleasant Ridge Elementary School.

The event will conclude around 7 p.m. with a raffle drawing for three gift baskets.

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or on Twitter @GazetteMike.

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Christmas in the City returning to downtown Gastonia - New Bern Sun Journal