By Joe Johnson
The Jones House will be stretching its holiday festivities and Christmas parade over the course of two weekends this year. This coming weekend will include the Festive Friday and solar Christmas tree lighting events; the Christmas parade itself will be held next Saturday, December 14, at 11:00 a.m. in part to accommodate the Sun Belt Championship game at App State this Saturday.
“It’s a great tradition we have,” said Mark Freed, Cultural Resources Director for the Jones House, “It’s a fun experience that you can only get when you live in a small town like Boone that has a community who likes to get out and celebrate! We always have strong support from our civic organizations, our schools, and the nonprofit organizations in the community. We’re hoping for good weather, but either way, we encourage everyone to come out and enjoy a winter afternoon with us in the mountains!”
Santa Claus will also be coming down from the North Pole to attend the downtown Christmas parade, have a meet-and-greet with families, and ask children to tell him their Christmas requests at the Mast General Store.
After the Christmas parade, guests are welcome to stop by the Jones House to enjoy hot cider or hot chocolate and enjoy the art being exhibited in the Jones House gallery. The downtown window display competition is currently underway, so the parade will be lined with beautiful holiday scenes in the windows of local businesses as well.
Registration is still open for those who would like to participate in the parade, register online at thejoneshouse.org or come by the Jones House to fill out a hard copy of the registration forms in person. The deadline for Christmas parade registration is the end of this weekend; register soon if you would like to be in the parade.
“It will start just past Galileo’s at the county facility and it will come all the way down to Earth Fare and end in the Legends parking lot. The parade starts at 11:00 a.m. and will last for a bit over an hour,” said Freed, “We do ask that people do not throw candy into the crowd; if you have candy or something to give away, we ask that you have someone pass it out in the crowd instead of throwing it.”
Three Forks Baptist Association will be featuring an intricate, three-tier float during the Christmas parade this year to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. The float will focus on the Holiness of God and His faithfulness, with a theme of “He was, He is, and He will be forever.”
“We are doing it in three tiers; the top portion of the float is going to be the manger, behind the manger will be the big star, and there will be a silhouette of the cross in that star because Jesus was born to die,” said Candy Taylor, Head Volunteer for the Three Forks Baptist Association float, “The themes from the star radiating out will be His names: Emmanuel, Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace. The second tier will represent His presence right now; there will be a scene with Jesus in the operating room, a scene with Jesus preaching in jail, a scene with Jesus in a soup kitchen where He is ministering to the hungry. The third tier will represent ‘He is forever’. We will have people wearing garb from around the world holding hands and holding up signs that say ‘He is my redeemer,’ ‘He is my rock,’ ‘He is my salvation,’ etc. We want to focus on Him; when everything around us is chaotic, if we fix our gaze on Him, everything else becomes clear.”
Be sure to attend the events hosted by Jones House in downtown Boone the next two weekends to gather with the local community and get yourself in the holiday spirit before Christmastime is officially here!
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