Main Street rings in Christmas
by DANNY WADE | Senior Editor
dwade@hchronicle.net
When Humboldt decides to have a celebration, no one does it better. Last Thursday evening was just another of the Strawberry City’s wonderful events. Christmas on Main did not disappoint.
Christmas on Main was the event of the season to attend and the hundreds of folks there were filled with festive fun. Everyone marks their calendars for the first Thursday in December for Humboldt to ring in the Christmas season.
As always, there was something for kids of all ages. For the youngsters, there were pictures with Santa and a letters to Santa station where the kids wrote their letters to jolly ole St. Nick, then dropped them into the mailbox to make sure they arrive to the North Pole in time for the big day.
Highlighting the evening was lighting up the community Christmas tree on the corner of Main Street and Central Ave. Once again, Mayor Marvin
Sikes had the honor of flipping the switch to light up the 25 ft. tree for everyone to see. With the countdown from 3, the mayor flipped the switch and the tree shined brightly. Everyone cheered when the tree was lit up.
After the tree was shining brightly, people lined up to take pictures in front of the tree, including several young ladies of the Strawberry Festival royalties.
Christmas on Main is a partnership with the Humboldt Chamber of Commerce and the city of Humboldt. Chamber Director Amanda Love, along with Events Coordinator Beth Culpepper and Administrative Assistant Mand Hobson worked together to make the event special, but they could not do it all themselves.
Humboldt civic clubs always chip in and volunteer during Christmas on Main. Humboldt Rotary Club assisted with Santa’s photo booth and handed out goody bags to the kids after they had their pictures taken with Santa for free. Junior Auxiliary of Humboldt manned the Santa letter station and made sure the letters were mailed. Humboldt Lions Club provided free popcorn for a quick snack and Humboldt Exchange Club worked the reindeer food booth where kids made their own recipe of reindeer food to sprinkle on their lawns on Christmas Eve to feed the reindeer while Santa delivers gifts.
Magnolia Manor hosted a live nativity scene with baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary, Three Wise Men and shepherds. There were real farm animals for petting that added to the nativity experience.
To keep the evening festive, the Humboldt Jr./Sr. High School band performed Christmas music and other popular tunes.
Some of the downtown stores and restaurants were open for the evening including The Kandy Bank and City Gift Company.
For everyone’s safety, Main Street was blocked off from 12th Ave. to 16th Ave. The Humboldt Police Department, Humboldt Fire Department and Humboldt Area Rescue Squad were on hand to keep everything safe and sound.
But, Thursday evening was not the only event to ring in the Christmas season. Saturday morning, Humboldt Plaza 3 offered free movies. Two classic movies, “Home Alone” and “Arthur Christmas” were shown on the big screens at the Plaza. Each movie had three different showings at staggered times beginning at 9:30 a.m. for one and 12:15 p.m. for the other. Tickets were free for both movies, but had to be reserved through the Humboldt Chamber of Commerce in advance. All showing were sellouts or very close.
It was a wonderful two days to be in Humboldt to celebrate Christmas, after all, it is ‘The Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ and the Humboldt Chamber and city of Humboldt made sure everyone had a good time.
