Velinda Wheeles: Christmas In A Railroad Town Friday

Christmas In A Railroad Town is this Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. Entertainment will get started at 6:15 with Make Your Move Dance Studio, followed by the Opelika High School Ovations and Impressions at 7 p.m. and The Queen’s Carolers from Columbus, Ga., will take stage at 8 p.m. Let them take you back in time for an authentic Old-English Christmas – one similar to what Charles Dickens might have enjoyed. This unique performance will add an air of enchantment to the evening.

It’s not too late to create your gingerbread house and display it in our Gingerbread Village. This is open to all ages. Go to opelikamainstreet.org for contest rules. You may drop off your gingerbread house to the Eighth Street Market Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. and Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. The Main Street Bake Sale will also be held inside the Market. We invite you to bake your best cookies, cakes, pies and breads. You may drop off items Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. and Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. Please contact Bake Sale Chairman Barbara Patton at 705-0484 if you have any questions.

Also held within the Eighth Street Market will be the Children’s Village. The Junior League of Lee County will be there to help with letters to Santa, Reindeer Food and Christmas Crafts. Junior Leaguer Brittney Ellsberry and her husband, Jason, will provide an opportunity for the kids to enjoy one of their inflatables from Space Walk of Auburn. The cookie walk, sponsored by Computer Paramedics, will be on Eighth Street near the Opelika Fire Department Fire Trucks. Many thanks to John Rice for providing the Eighth Street Market building for the evening.
Other activities will be the wagon and trolley rides through the Victorian Porch Tour, screen-printing a holiday T-shirt, a ride on the Rocky Top Railroad, Jubilee Farm pony rides, Emmanuel Episcopal Church Open House and Portrait artist Wicky Henkels. The Opelika Post Office will be located inside the Museum of East Alabama for the evening hand-stamping Christmas Cards with a special Christmas In A Railroad Town stamp. The shops will be open offering complimentary gift-wrap for your one-of-a-kind gifts. Have dinner with family and friends at your favorite downtown restaurant. Make sure to stop by FlipFlopFoto to visit and have your picture made with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Thank you to our sponsors Mayor Gary Fuller and Opelika City Council Eddie Smith, Patsy Jones, Dr. Bill Lazenby, Joey Motley and Larry Gray, Opelika Chamber of Commerce, BancorpSouth, Junior League of Lee County, BF Goodrich, East Alabama Medical Center, The City of Opelika, Alagasco, J. Smith Lanier, ESG, Museum Of East Alabama, Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home, CharterBank, Opelika Post Office, Computer Paramedics, Superior Portables, Opelika-Auburn News, Qantum Communications and Knight Rides Yamaha. Special thanks to Sherrie Compton for help with the programs, The Brass Brassiere for providing Santa’s home for the evening and elf Michelle Ulmer.

Velinda Wheeles is director of Main Street Opelika and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News.