A day of activities downtown Saturday and a parade Sunday will usher the Christmas season into Commerce.
Hometown Holidays will comprise Breakfast with Santa, the Secret Santa Workshop and the Hometown Holidays Hot Rod and Antique Car Show Saturday.
Breakfast With Santa
The event leads with Breakfast With Santa from 9:00 to 11:00 at Stonewall’s BBQ, South Broad Street.
Co-sponsored by the Downtown Development Authority and the Four Seasons Garden Club, Breakfast With Santa gives children a chance to meet with Santa while their parents snap photos.
The garden club will sell muffins and doughnuts for $1 apiece and juice or hot chocolate for $1 apiece. Parents will also be able to buy a photo of their child with St. Nick for $5. Proceeds will be donated to the Banks-Jackson Emergency Food Bank.
Secret Santa Workshop
From noon to 3:00, the DDA and the Pilot Club of Commerce will hold the Secret Santa Workshop at the Commerce School of Dance building on North Broad Street.
Seven to 10 local vendors will have special merchandise — nothing over $10 — from which children can make gift selections. Pilot Club members will help children manage their money, and gift-wrapping will be provided at no charge.
“The target age group is children 5 to 12,” notes Hasco Craver, executive director of the DDA.
Car/Hot Rod Show
Concurrent with the Secret Santa Workshop, the Hometown Holidays Hot Rod and Antique Car Show will take place on South Broad and South Elm streets, including the off-street parking lot near Spencer Park by the railroad tracks.
Parade Sunday
The Christmas Parade will be held Sunday at 3 p.m. The theme is “Christmas Carols Come Alive,” and Craver said the parade is shaping up to be the largest yet.
“We have 30 floats so far,” he said, noting that typically 65 percent of parade entries sign up during the last week.
“If this year is similar to the two previous years, we should have an entertaining and diverse group of entries,” he said. “A lot of ideas people have put on their applications are very interesting. We should have some neat-looking floats.”
The Commerce and East Jackson high school bands are among the entries.
The parade is sponsored by the Commerce Area Business Association, which will offer $125 prizes to the best school or academic group entry, the best religious entry, the best business entry and the best entry from a non-profit group or club.
The starting point for riding units will be the parking lot below the CHS football field and across Minish Drive from Commerce Primary School. Parking will be on the school campus.
Walking units should meet in the front driveway of CHS. Parking will be at the campus.
All entries should be set up and ready to go by 2:00, Craver warned.
The route will be out Lakeview Drive, to Washington Street, then right on North Elm Street. The parade will come through the downtown on Elm Street and end at the First Baptist Church of Commerce.
To enter, contact Craver at 706-335-2954. There is no charge to enter a float or walking group in the parade.
