Sweet Home will celebrate the Christmas season this weekend with a variety of events to ring in the holidays.
The annual Christmas Parade, themed “Christmas Cards from Sweet Home,” will begin at 11 a.m., starting at 18th Avenue and proceeding along Long Street to 10th Avenue.
Santa Claus will appear at the Chamber of Commerce, 1575 Main St., for photos with children at noon, following the parade. Pictures, taken by a professional photographer, will cost $5 each.
A&W restaurant will provide a food cart for lunch at the chamber.
The Christmas Tree lighting, led by Mayor Craig Fentiman, will take place at 5:30 p.m. on the chamber lawn. Hot chocolate and cookies will be provided by Fir Lawn Lutheran church. The Sweet Home High School choir will perform as well.
“The chamber’s been doing this for about 60 years,” said chamber Manager Andrea Culy. “This is a wonderful community event. The holiday time is a traditional time for family and these are long-term Sweet Home traditions not just for our families but for the community. We want kids, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents to come down and enjoy this.”
Other events during the weekend include:
Christmas Trees Auction
The Sweet Home Alumni Foundation is hosting its Sixth Annual Decorated Trees for Scholars Auction from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, in the Sweet Home High School cafeteria, 1641 Long Street.
Decorated trees, sponsored and designed by businesses and individuals, will be available for bid. A silent auction from 6 to 7:30 p.m. will feature wreaths and centerpieces, baked goods, hand-crafted items and theme baskets. The live portion of the auction will start at 7:30 p.m., with the decorated trees going to the highest bidders.
Cost to attend is $15, which includes elegant holiday hors d’oeuvres and a festive punch. All proceeds from the tree auction go to support college scholarships for Sweet Home High School graduating seniors. Visitors can pay at the door.
For more information about the auction, call 367-4968.
The trees will be on display throughout the day Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Other events planned during the weekend of Dec. 4-6 include the annual Singing Christmas Tree, and holiday bazaars by the East Linn Museum, the Sweet Home Friends of the Library and the Sweet Home Genealogical Society.
Singing Christmas Tree
The Sweet Home Singing Christmas Tree will perform three Christmas shows during its 28th season this weekend.
Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 and Saturday, Dec. 5, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6 in the Sweet Home High School Auditorium, 1641 Long St.
The choral and Christmas lights show is free to the public (donations accepted) and runs about two hours. Performances are on an actual tree structure that is some 20 feet high and uses real branches so it looks and smells like a real tree.
Participants are all volunteers. The number of singers varies from year to year, ranging in age from 13 to 94.
Santa will visit during the show and raffles featuring a homemade quilt and a fully decorated Christmas tree, along with a variety of things donated by tree members and the community, will be offered.
The performances are under the direction of David Dominy and Ben Pickett.
For more information, contact Sherry at 367-4824 or Sue at 367-4639.
Open House
Sweet Home Emergency Ministries will have an open house following the parade, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Kiwanis will serve hot dogs, while SHEM staff give tours of the new facility, located in the old Hometown Drug building,
1023 Main St. Enter from Long Street.
The event will include raffle baskets. The weekend marks the first weekened of the postal carries’ annual food drive.
Starting Saturday, donations to the Salvation Army in Sweet Home are used to purchase backpacks for SHEM’s back to school period next year.
Bazaars
The Friends of the Library will hold their Holiday Boutique from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the library, 1101 13th Ave.
The Sweet Home Genealogical Society will hold its Christmas Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Genealogical Society Library, 1223 Kalmia.
The East Linn Museum will hold its annual Christmas Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the high school Activity Gym, 1641 Long St.
The Sweet Home High School equestrian team will sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts at the museum bazaar.
The event is a fund-raiser for the team, which will begin competition after the first of the year. To pre-order, contact Marsha Blankenship at 401-3326.
For more information regarding the various events during the weekend, call the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce at 367-6186.