Wintertide Celebration In Highland

Josh Umar, Executive Director of the Highland County Chamber of Commerce, stopped by recently to extend an invitation to everyone listening.

“I am here to invite everyone to come ring in the Christmas season with us at Wintertide. It’s going to be Saturday, December 1^st.

“There’s a full day of activities, some of which people will be familiar with, some new stuff as well. We are going to have our parade with Santa – this year, however, it’s going to end at the Highland Center. And so, the parade will start at 10:00 am, and then you’ll get opportunities for pictures with Santa from 10:30 – 12:30. And, a new event this year, Santa’s actually going to come a little early in the morning, and starting at 8:00 am, if you stop in High’s, they’ll be doing a breakfast with Santa.

“We have the Highland Center Winter Market going on, from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, and that’s going to be one of several shopping opportunities that people will have, if they want to support local businesses, and pick up, either ingredients for holiday meals, or gifts for Christmas for relatives or loved ones, they’re going to have a lot of opportunities to do that. Twice As Nice is going to have some special hours that day, The Attic is open, Highland Mountain Flowers is doing extended hours and light refreshments, Morning Glories and Moonflowers, Sugar Tree Country Store – all these places are staying open so that they can serve customers who might be interested in buying Christmas gifts for their families.

“There will be some other fun things as you walk around. The Cookie Walk is going to go on again this year at the Word of Faith Church – it’s going to start at noon, rather than in the morning like last year, so that’s really good – that benefits the Volunteer Rescue Squad, and you can sneak over there and get some cookies. You’re also going to have free mulled cider at Big Fish, starting at noon and going until 7:00 pm – they’re going to do mulled cider, and they’ll have tastings of wassel available, so that’s going to be really good.

The community chorus is going to be doing its regular performances. So, right after the tree lighting ceremony, which is going to be on the courthouse lawn at 6:00 pm, and there’s going to be a reading of the Christmas story and the lighting of the tree, as per usual. Right after that, at 7:00, the chorus is going to perform at Monterey United Methodist Church, and you can go a little early or stay a little after, and see the Girl Scouts’ gingerbread village. And they have several other performances throughout the weekend.

“There are more details that you can get on the website, so if you’re interested in finding all the performances of the community chorus, or any of the other specifics, you can go to www.highlandcounty.org. You can also find us on social media – Instagram, Facebook, at Highland County VA page – it’s really active there, and we post a lot about our events on that page.”