MOUNT VERNON – The holiday season is right around the corner and Downtown Mount Vernon is preparing for a busy Winter in Downtown.
Experience Mount Vernon has been creating a schedule of festivities to bring the holiday spirit to the central business district and invites the Mount Vernon community and beyond to join in.
Beginning on Saturday, Nov. 26, with Shop Small Saturday, the merchants downtown will be open beginning at 11 a.m. to celebrate the national holiday. Experience Mount Vernon encourages patrons to stop at all the retail, restaurants and craft artisan shops in the corridor to help kick off the holiday shopping season. Head to each store’s Facebook pages to learn more about the special offerings, deals and attractions. Following a day full of shopping, the Lighting of Public Square will take place at 5 p.m. Presented by Open Road Renewables, participants will gather on Public Square to help create that moment when the lights turn on for the first time. Mayor Matt Starr will be flipping the switch and lighting up the night.
The Downtown Mount Vernon Gingerbread Forest is also slated to take over Public Square on Saturday, Nov. 26. Sponsored by local businesses and created by local artists, the gingerbread people are a true community collaboration. Experience Mount Vernon thanks Knox County Career Center Schools and the Building Trades department for their help in producing the gingerbread figures. As part of the Gingerbread Forest, Experience Mount Vernon has partnered with Habitat for Humanity and Park National bank for the second annual Playhouse Project in Knox County. A gingerbread house created by Habitat for Humanity of Knox County will be on display from Nov. 26 through the end of the year. Community members and visitors are encouraged to visit Public Square during the holiday season to check out the forest and grab pictures of their favorites. Following the display period, the house will be donated to a local family to be used as a playhouse for years to come.
The annual Holiday Parade is back to being a Sunday event. Sponsored by Park National Bank, the parade will begin its route at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 27. The parade route for this year will start at Sugar Street, then run down North Main and around the west side of Public Square. The route will pass by the square and continue down South Main Street to Howard Street, where the parade will end. Experience Mount Vernon and sponsor Park National Bank are pleased announced that the parade theme for this year is Gingerbread Forest. Businesses, organizations and other community groups are invited to sign up for the parade through a registration link on the “#Experience Events” page of ExperienceMV.org. The link will have information concerning set-up time, parade awards and deadlines for the event. A list of award sponsors will be released closer to the parade date. Following the parade, Lewis & Clark Insurance and Santa will be available for pictures from 3-5 p.m. in the downstairs lobby of The Mount Vernon Grand Hotel.
Wrapping up the holiday events from the office of Experience Mount Vernon, the Festival of Lights is back. This residential house-lighting competition is sponsored by ProCore Health Brokers and challenges residents within the city limits of Mount Vernon to see who has the best lighting display for their homes. Registration for the event will be available both on the Experience Mount Vernon Facebook page and ExperienceMV.org and will close Monday, Dec. 12. Once approved, participating houses will be photographed and logged. A map of the locations will be made available before the event. The event will take place Saturday, Dec. 17, from 6-9 p.m., when those who have been approved must have their displays on for viewing. At 6 p.m. on Dec. 17, Experience Mount Vernon will release the photos of the participating house on their Facebook page, and voting will be open so participants can help decide the Festival of Lights winner. Starr will announce the winners on Monday, Dec. 19. Voting will close Sunday, Dec. 18, at 9 p.m.
To learn more about the Downtown Mount Vernon Gingerbread Forest, Shop Small Saturday, annual Holiday Parade, Square Lighting Ceremony and Festival of Lights or to join the downtown movement, head to experiencemv.org.
