Lowndes County will kick the holiday season off with a bang this week with multiple events.
Thursday
The festivities start on Thursday with the Cedarhill Animal Sanctuary art show at the Columbus Arts Council.
The interactive gallery consists of around 86 paintings all done by the lions, tigers and bobcats at the sanctuary. Each animal will be treated like any other artist with biographies, narrated by volunteers from the Golden Triangle Community Theatre.
The paintings will be available for sale as well, with the proceeds going to Cedarhill, to help cover operating expenses.
The open house for the gallery is from 5:30-7 p.m. at the Rosenzweig Arts Center.
Friday
The fun continues on Friday with Wassail Fest and the Wassail N’ Blues concert.
Wassail Fest will see 19 businesses competing for the title of Wassail Meister as voted on by those in attendance.
A new component of the event this year is the closing of a portion of Main Street.
A stretch of Main between 5th and 6th Streets — the portion of the street in front of both City Hall and The Commercial Dispatch — will be closed beginning at 3 p.m. and ending around 9 p.m.
Santa and Miz Claus will also be at the Arts Council for pictures during Wassail Fest as well.
“We want them to come down and enjoy Wassail Fest, vote for their favorite wassail, shop in our stores and be sure to get their pictures made with Santa and Miz Claus and enjoy our additional area this year,” said Barbara Bigelow, executive director for Main Street Columbus.
The Wassail N’ Blues concert with Little Freddie King, featuring his nephew Mississippi Blues guitarist and producer Vasti Jackson, will begin toward the end of Wassail Fest at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Arts Council.
Tickets for the concert are $15 for members and $20 for everyone else.
“He puts on an amazing show,” said Salem Gibson, executive director for the arts council. “It’s very elaborate and soulful and I think represents jazz in a really great way. We are encouraging people to come, taste the wassail, and stay for a show.”
Saturday
Caledonia will host its first Jingle and Mingle Christmas Market from 1-10 p.m. in Ola J. Pickett Park. There will be arts and crafts, food trucks gift wrapping and a community toy drive.
At 5:45 p.m., the town tree lighting will take place, followed by the Christmas parade at 6 p.m.
Following the parade, there will be pictures with Santa, Christmas carols and free hot chocolate and smores.
Santa and Miz Claus will also return to the arts council from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday for pictures.
Sunday
The weekend closes out with the Columbus Christmas parade at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The parade will go down Main and College Streets.
“We’ve got area bands that will be marching in the parade,” Bigelow said. “We will have a group from the Columbus Air Force Base that will be marching in the parade this year, which we are very excited about.”
WCBI Anchor Aundrea Self will be the grand marshal for this year’s parade.
“She’s a very well-known personality and just a huge volunteer throughout Columbus and has been for many years,” Bigelow said. “We are glad she was available to be our grand marshal this year.”
The Pack 2 Cub Scouts will be collecting canned goods along the parade route again this year as well.
The group collected more than 300 items last year according to a Facebook post from Cub Master Jason Spears.
“We hope to exceed this amount this year,” he said in the post. “Please bring a canned food item or bag of them and hold them up along the parade route for scouts to collect as we pass by.”
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