Downtown News

Tupelo kicks off Christmas season this week

November 29 2011

TUPELO - Kick off the holiday season this week with four, free family-friendly events filled with music, twinkling lights and good cheer.

The festivities start Thursday with Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association’s fourth annual North Pole Stroll from 5:30 to 8 p.m. More than a dozen merchants will offer special sales, holiday games and drawings for gift certificates.

Or you can attend the city’s annual Lighting of Ballard Park the same evening at the Ballard Park Gazebo, in conjunction with an open house at the adjacent Oren Dunn City Museum.

Oren Dunn will feature music by Thomas Street Elementary School students from 5:15 to 5:45 p.m, serve hot chocolate and allow guests to view the Rich Toy Exhibit.

At 6 p.m., the city will have music by Lawhon Elementary School students. The winners of its “What the Holiday Season Means to Me” essay contest also will be announced.

“First-place winners will read their essays, and they’ll be the ones flipping the switch” to light up the park, said Shanta Eiland of the city Parks and Recreation Department.

Workers have spent days stringing lights and erecting holiday displays throughout the large park in west Tupelo to get ready for the event. Ballard Park also will offer free train rides until 7:30 p.m.

Then, on Saturday, the 63rd annual Reed’s Tupelo Christmas Parade will roll downtown starting at 10 a.m. This year’s theme is “The All America City Christmas” in honor of Tupelo’s fourth win at the national All America City contest this year.

Local area Girl Scouts will serve as grand marshals in the parade. It starts at the intersection of Front and Jefferson Streets near Fire Station No. 1. It then goes west on Jefferson Street, south on Robins Street and east on Main Street before disbanding at Fairpark.

Afterward, bring the kids to the sixth annual Home Sweet Home at the BancorpSouth Conference Center behind the Hilton Garden Inn, where they’ll build their own gingerbread houses.

Hot chocolate and a snack will be provided at the event, which lasts from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.


by Emily Le Coz | NEMS Daily Journal - Published November 29, 2011