El Dorado Springs Christmas festivities

The holiday season is fast approaching. There are just over six weeks until Christmas. This year the El Dorado Springs Chamber of Commerce has planned some exciting changes to the Wonder City’s holiday events.

This year Christmas festivities are rolled into one HUGE afternoon of celebration on Saturday, Nov. 18. The day kicks off with holiday shopping at the 4th annual Holiday Expo in the Park Community Building from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed during the parade). The expo will feature local home-based and small businesses. Expo Chairperson Vicki Hillsman commented, “The expo is busting at the seams this year. The entire Park Community Building is pretty much full with local vendors and there’s truly something for everyone.”

The Christmas Parade will line-up at 1:30 p.m. and the Parade will start at 3 p.m. The deadline for parade entries is this Friday. The theme of this year’s parade is Thankful for the Holidays!

The lineup will be posted in local media, at www.Facebook.com/ElDoradoSpringsChamber and on www.ElDoradoSpringsChamber.com. For children’s safety the parade committee asks participants to have walkers distribute candy. The parade committee urges participants to only distribute candy the three blocks from Hightower Street (near the Post Office) north to Broadway. Chamber CEO Jackson Tough said “In the past few years people parked vehicles along the busy Main Street thoroughfare several blocks south of the downtown area. Parade participants can’t see children darting from in between the parked vehicles until the last minute which could create a very dangerous situation. This is an attempt to get spectators downtown instead of parking along Main Street. Most participants will have a walker on each side of their entry, some will have just one walking behind the entry. We want folks to enjoy the parade and to keep our community’s children safe.”

The Lighting Celebration in the Park will start with activities to keep everyone entertained immediately after the parade’s conclusion. Parade entries can use parking lots to the east and west of Main Street and make their way to Spring Park for the awards for civic, youth, business, church and other entries. Our public school bands and choirs will perform, there will be a reading of Jesus birth by the Christian School and GFWC’s Miss Merry Christmas and Little Mr. and Miss Santa candidates will be introduced. SCRG, the Chamber of Commerce and Woods Supermarket are sponsoring free hotdogs, chips and drinks served by Senator Sandy Crawford and Representative Warren Love and Nine Wonders Optimist Club will have a Christmas cookie decorating station among other vendors. Santa Claus will make the trip to El Dorado Springs for the parade and then visit with children during the Lighting Celebration festivities. The afternoon culminates with the Lighting Celebration Countdown which will illuminate the Park, Main Street and U.S. Hwy. 54 around dusk. To cap the evening the Opera House Arts Council will have a special showing of the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” movie in the Park.

Chamber President Toshua McCormick said “These events bring visitors to El Dorado Springs, gather the community and showcase local merchants. We are proud to organize our community’s holiday events and strive to better them each year. We truly hope the community appreciates the new format and that it will add to everyone’s enjoyment of the holiday season.”