by Bruce Boyer

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas; everywhere you go.  Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening again; with candy canes and silver lanes a-glow.  Christmas music fills the air as we anticipate the gift-giving season.

Kernersville is preparing for Christmas. We think of Christmas Carols, holiday food, and family gatherings at this time of year.  The anticipation of Christmas is heightened when the community takes on a special glow from lighted wreaths, and Kernersville-born blinkie lights and deco globes.  Driving through town gives you a feeling you are gliding on a sleigh through a winter wonderland.

A number of December events help us all prepare for the season, and kick off preparations for those family gatherings.  Shopping is at a peak from Thanksgiving to December 24^th.

Black Friday is when the calendar says the season begins.  The first of two downtown candlelight tours begin at Main Street Baptist Church, at 6 PM on November 29 and then again on December 20.  It is a guided tour of downtown retail stores.

A horse drawn carriage ride is a highlight of the Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 7.  Downtown streets are closed to vehicular traffic from 3-7 PM so that shoppers can safely explore the downtown specialty shops.  Admission on the carriage ride is either $1 or a donation of a can of food to help stock Crisis Control Ministry’s food pantry shelves for the Christmas season.  Santa will greet children at the new downtown kiosk, across the street from Main Street Baptist Church.

Noah’s Place Petting Zoo will be providing horse-drawn carriage rides on several dates, with a percentage of the funds to support to the Evan-Hopkins Breast Cancer Fund founded by local dentist Amy Jo Fischer.  The Evan-Hopkins Breast Cancer Fund supports women undergoing breast cancer treatment at the new Novant Kernersville Medical Center.  The pink and black carriage will be running, weather permitting, from 6:30 – 10 PM on December 6-8, 13-15, and 27-31.

The chamber will be dedicating the electronic downtown kiosk at 4 PM on December 7.  The kiosk will provide news, weather, downtown maps, and information for pedestrians.  It is provided courtesy of the Lawrence E. Pope Foundation and the Kernersville Little Theatre.  KLT will provide a brief musical tribute at the 4 PM public dedication.  The community Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony will be at 7 PM at Harmon Park, also on December 7.

The “granddaddy” of community Christmas Parades is held in Kernersville at 2:30 PM on Sunday, December 8.  This year’s parade will lead off with the spectacular Percheron horses, carrying this year’s Grand Marshall.  The impressive Percheron horses are provided by Walkertown Mill.  The parade features at least six bands, including the marching bands from Glenn, East Forsyth, Northwest Guilford, Walkertown high schools, and Oak Ridge Military Academy as well as the concert band and choir form the North Carolina Leadership Academy.  Over 2,300 people participate in the parade each year, making it one of the area’s largest Christmas parades.  The parade ends at the site of the Rotary Club Pancake Supper, December 8 at Kernersville Elementary School.

Senior Holly Day is held on December 18 at Main Street Baptist Church and features a free soup and sandwich lunch, Christmas music, and time for shopping.  Mom’s Morning Out is on Saturday, December 14, from 10 AM – Noon.  Children will enjoy snacks, and story reading of The Night Before Christmas and the Christmas Story.  Main Street Baptist Church will provide supervised Christmas activities, including Santa, while parents can shop.

No Christmas season would be complete without the KLT holiday show.  This year they are putting on “It’s a Wonderful Life:  A Live Radio Play,” the timeless story about George Bailey and his guardian angel.  The production shows at Main Street Baptist Church, December 6-7 and 12-15.

Downtown stores have adopted the theme “Christmas Around the World – Passport Time,” with stores decorated in the décor and tradition of some 20 different counties.

For more information about the Christmas events contact the Chamber at 993-4521.

While many of the scheduled events take place in our downtown, the chamber urges you to “Shop Local” this holiday season – not only downtown but throughout the greater Kernersville area.

Shopping is what we do to provide gifts to our friends and loved ones.  Our attention Christmas Eve centers on the reason for the season.  Jesus Christ is God’s gift to the world.  Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, which is highlighted by the words to the familiar Christmas Carol, Joy to the World.

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!  Let earth receive her King.  Let every heart prepare him room.  And heaven and nature sing. .. the wonders of his love.