A Festive Downtown Monroe at Christmas!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and Christmas will quickly follow. Downtown Monroe is preparing for the Christmas shopping rush with the trees already lit down Broad Street and special activities being planned so families can visit Santa and shop for Christmas gifts locally this year.

Downtown Monroe’s Christmas activities will kick-off on Thursday, December 4 with the Annual Downtown Monroe Christmas Parade, and will end on Friday, December 19 with the Lighthouse World Outreach Center live nativity production in front of the Walton County Historic Courthouse.

“Our Christmas events are an example of the downtown community working together to bring renewed interest in shopping locally,” said Downtown Development Authority Director Ansley Holder. “We also hope this event will help to raise awareness of the retail businesses that are close to home and open for shopping all year long.”
The Christmas parade begins at 6:30 p.m. on December 4 and will proceed down Broad Street from Monroe First United Methodist Church to the City Hall, with Monroe historian Larry Witcher serving as the Grand Marshall. This year’s theme for the parade is “A Historic Christmas.” The parade committee expects to see many creative entries and interpretations of this year’s theme.

“We are over halfway full and we have a great variety of floats already signed up,” said Cari Bailey, Christmas Parade event chair. “The parade went well on Thursday night last year and we are excited to carry on the start of this new tradition with the parade being the kick-off to the Thursday and Friday night Candlelight Shopping. The time change of the parade to 6:30 p.m. should also give families a little extra time to get downtown for the parade.”

The Christmas parade is only the beginning of a series of Thursday and Friday night activities in downtown Monroe, leading up to Christmas. Following the parade, the downtown retail shops and restaurants will remain open until 9 p.m. as part of the downtown “Candlelight Shopping” experience. The Candlelight Shopping occurs every Thursday and Friday night, for the three weeks, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. On each of those nights, the downtown businesses will remain open from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. to allow for extended Christmas shopping hours.

“Many of the downtown merchants will be offering special holiday merchandise and prices,” said Sheryl McHugh, Candlelight Shopping Event Chair. “You don’t want to miss this opportunity to save some gas money and get your Christmas shopping done close to home.”

Each Thursday and Friday night during Candlelight Shopping, Santa will be hosted by one of our downtown merchants. Hosts for this year include Buckles Hardware and Wild Child Arts, to name a few. Santa’s schedule will be posted on the DDA website and printed in the e-newsletter closer to the start of Candlelight Shopping. Families are welcome to come and share their wish list with Santa and snap photos with him.
The Historic Courthouse in the middle of downtown will be the host-site for a featured musical group each evening of Candlelight Shopping. In the past they have had the Bryan Hoover Band, A Tuba Christmas, local school bands and choruses, and other various performing groups. In addition to the stage performers there will be musical groups caroling through the shops to provide Christmas spirit throughout downtown. At any given moment you might find Santa being serenaded in a shop by a local choral group.

“The Walton Music Guild will be coordinating musicians for the event,” McHugh said. “There will be music for all ages and provided by a variety of age groups.”
The music is a large part of the Christmas spirit, but it would not be Christmas in downtown Monroe without the lights. The downtown area is already lit up from end to end with LED Christmas lights, with Monroe ‘going green’ for Christmas again this year. These LED lights require 85 percent less energy consumption than normal incandescent bulbs.
“Come out and enjoy the beautiful lights that were such a hit in Downtown Monroe last year that they made national news headlines,” McHugh said.
In addition to Santa, lights and music, the Downtown Development Authority will also be hosting horse-drawn carriage rides on the Candlelight Shopping evenings from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be a cost for the carriage rides. An exact schedule and pricing information will be posted on the DDA website and listed in the e-newsletter closer to the start of Candlelight Shopping.

“Carriage rides were a big hit last year and we are looking forward to being able to offer those again this year,” said McHugh.

All in all, it sounds like Downtown Monroe is ready for the Christmas season with Santa, musicians, lights, carriage rides and a parade. Make sure that you are ready for Christmas too, by participating in this local shopping event.
For any questions, to sign up for the e-newsletter, or for further information about the Christmas activities offered in Downtown Monroe please visit the website at www.monroedowntown.com, call (770) 266-5331, or e-mail aholder@monroega.gov.