Christmas trees to light up Fort Smith

The Fort Smith downtown Christmas tree-lighting is coming the day after Thanksgiving, and three days later, one of the largest LED Christmas tree light displays will shine bright.

He said the new walking path is a great way to see the lights and stroll along the part that is open.

Thousands of people are expected to visit the Christmas light displays at Creekmore Holiday Express this year.

The downtown tree-lighting is 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 26 at Cisterna Park, 1001 Garrison Ave. The city of Fort Smith partners with Keep Fort Smith Beautiful, Community Rescue Mission, as well as the Bonneville House,Clayton House, and Fort Smith Museum of History and 64.6 Downtown are involved in the event.

Keep Fort Smith Beautiful, a 22x11 foot magnolia tree was planted at Cisterna Park and will serve as the official Christmas Tree for the lighting ceremony.

The Christmas parade on Garrison Avenue is Dec. 10.

The Community Rescue Mission through the financial support of First National Bank of Fort Smith, ArcBest, CentralBusiness Improvement District, Littlefield Oil, and Mercy will host a synthetic ice skating rink.

And in Creekmore Park, 3301 S. M. Street, crews have built an LED, light-emitting diodes, Christmas tree that is 50-feet tall, said Fort Smith's Parks Director Doug S. Reinert.

The LED tree-lighting is 5:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28 at Creekmore Park near the Holiday Express miniature train. Holiday Express train rides will be nightly, except Sundays, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 28 to Saturday, Dec. 18.

Lights will remain on through Jan. 8 in the city.

Park workers are hurrying each day to get the grounds ready for thousands of visitors, Reinert said. Last year, about 30,000 people visited Creekmore Park during the holiday season.

City crews have put up about 80,000 lightbulbs in Christmas displays around the entire city, Reinert said.

Many of the light displays at Creekmore are from the 1990s, Reinert said. So there is a lot to update with the newer LED lights that shine brighter and use less electricity.

Crews are working around two other projects at Creekmore, he said. The work on the inclusive playground is wrapping up by the end of November. And work on an 8-foot-wide walking path that goes around the park is three-fourths completed, Reinert said.

"We're trying to update all of our lighting displays," Reinert said. "Technology has changed so much now with the smart LED lights."

He said the LED Christmas tree at Creekmore should be on shortly before Thanksgiving Day to make sure visitors see what is up.

Crews start working on holiday lights in Fort Smith the first week of October.

"We feel like families come in to town for Thanksgiving and we want them to see the lights. So we are making sure they're functioning and will turn on before Thanksgiving," Reinhert said.

Christmas event ahead in Fort Smith

During the months of November and December various downtown retailers will host open houses and special holiday activities, specifically on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 26.There are a number of events to mark on the calendar for Fort Smith this holiday season.

64.6 Downtown works to unify 2022 Downtown Christmas festivities.

Talicia Richardson, executive director of 64.6 Downtown said rRetailers are busy preparing for the holiday shopping season with ordering, promotion, while running their daily operations.

"It seemed fitting to pull established entities together who love downtown and desire it to be a hub of enjoyment for all. We want to support our downtown businesses by facilitating activities that yield increased sales volume,” said.

Richardson said the work by Keep Fort Smith Beautiful Magnolia tree that is 22 feet tall and 11 feet wide.

Community Rescue Mission synthetic ice skating rink, will be open Friday, Nov. 25 through January 2nd. More information can be found at www.fortsmithiceskating.com. First National Bank of Fort Smith, ArcBest, Central Business Improvement District, Littlefield Oil, and Mercy have provided financial support for the syntheticice skating rink.

Small Business Saturday promotes local business Saturday, Nov. 26.

The Bakery District, "Festival of Trees," runs through Nov. 29.

The Christmas Honors Laying of the Wreaths will be 8 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Dec. 3 at Fort Smith National Cemetery, 522 Garland Ave.

The Fort Smith Christmas parade on Garrison will be 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.

The annual parade hosted by Bonneville House, ClaytonHouse, and Fort Smith Museum of History, is expected to be bigger this hear with "exciting new additions," Richardson said.exceed parade participantsand has an exciting new addition to the parade.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Christmas tree-lighting ceremony kicks off the season