Crowds carrying steaming cups of wassail are about to fill downtown once again for the 20th annual Wassail Fest.
Main Street Columbus Executive Director Barbara Bigelow said Wassail Fest is returning downtown from 5-8 p.m. Friday. Attendees will get to walk downtown, sampling the medieval spiced cider beverage from 24 participating businesses, along with other holiday festivities.
“It’s one of our most popular events downtown,” Bigelow said. “This is the 20th year, and it has evolved throughout the years to be a real tradition for many people from out of the community.
“Then of course, we have local folks who would not miss it for anything,” she added.
Bigelow said downtown streets will be blocked off between Second Avenue North to Third Avenue South and then Main Street between Fourth and Sixth starting at 3 p.m., allowing wassail enjoyers to walk freely between stops to enjoy sampling wassail.
Attendees will then rate each participating businesses’ recipe on a scale between one to five. Once an attendee’s ballot is filled out with at least eight ratings, they can drop their rankings off at a ballot box.
After all the ballots have been collected and counted – which can take a week to 10 days – the highest scoring business will be named the Wassail Meister, Bigelow said. And the competition for the title is fierce.
“These merchants … they’re serious about this,” Bigelow said. “They want to win. It’s always a fun, fun event.”
New Princess Theater took home the title of Wassail Meister in 2023. Manager Naomi Page said the business plans to repeat.
“We have a wonderful, wonderful employee, Kaylee Lindsey, who has been working hard on her recipe,” Page said. “And she actually is starting her preparations (Wednesday) to go ahead and get it done in time for Wassail Fest.”
Coffee House on 5th, which acts as a presenting sponsor for the event alongside Edward Jones Investments, placed second last year.
Manager Philip Rivera said the coffee shop is planning to work on its wassail all day, starting at 10 a.m. until the end of the night.
“We shoot for first place every single year, because we’re really proud of our recipe, and we think that it really does shine above everybody else’s,” Rivera said.
While the competition is fierce, Lindsey and Rivera both agreed that Wassail Fest draws new faces into downtown businesses.
“It brings so much business and so much more awareness to all of the shops that people might not even know about,” Rivera said. “And when they hand out those voting cards, they may see a brand new business that’s just participating this year. And hopefully, for the months and weeks to come after that, they can patronize those businesses too.”
This year, New Princess Theater and Coffee House on 5th will face off against Ali Kat’s Boutique, A Southern Gathering, Bella Blu & Garret & Co., Best’s Academy of Martial Arts, Blades Hair Design, Bubble the Day Spa, Cafe on Main, Cobalt’s Boutique, Columbus Arts Council, Covington Wealth Management, Downtown Nutrition, Elevation Real Estate, Foxhole Comics and Games, Friendly City Books, Hollyhocks Gift Shop, Justin’s Watch and Jewelry, Little Magnolia Co., Meadows Law Group, Mira Mira, Southern Lux, Sweet Magnolia Boutique and Zachary’s.
Holiday festivities
Besides wassail, there will also be musical performances at Leadership Plaza by local holiday band The Ornaments, along with caroling by the MSMS Singers and the Golden Triangle Singers. There will also be a giant Frosty the Snowman on Main Street, Bigelow said.
Pictures with Santa and Miz Claus will also be available at the Columbus Arts Council’s Rosenzweig Arts Center throughout the event, Bigelow said, and an Ugly Sweater Showdown at the Main Street Columbus Office during the evening.
The city will also host its annual Christmas Tree Lighting during Wassail Fest, Bigelow said, at the tree adjacent to the Tennessee Williams Home and Welcome Center. Singing will begin near the tree at 5:30 p.m., while the tree lighting will be at 6 p.m.
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