Christmas is on! Uptown Lexington Inc. has a full slate of holiday events

Jill Doss-Raines, The Dispatch
·5 min read
Uptown Lexington Executive Director Jacob Gordon stands in his office on East First Avenue with several strands of Christmas lights that will soon be strung on the trees along Main Street in Lexington. All the Uptown Lexington-sponsored holidays events are back this year with the addition of a new event.
Uptown Lexington Executive Director Jacob Gordon stands in his office on East First Avenue with several strands of Christmas lights that will soon be strung on the trees along Main Street in Lexington. All the Uptown Lexington-sponsored holidays events are back this year with the addition of a new event.

For many Davidson County residents, the 2020 Christmas season felt like the Grinch skulked into town and loaded up all the usual holiday events and whisked away a good measure of everyone's Christmas cheer.

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Crowd control mandates by Gov. Roy Cooper to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus halted the Christmas parade and many other traditional events.

But planning for the 2021 holiday season is on at full blast in the Uptown Lexington Inc. office, with not only all the usual events set to happen this year but a new Pop Up Market.

"I am excited," said Jacob Gordon. "This is my first year planning a parade."

Gordon was named executive director of ULI in November 2020.

CHRISTMAS EVENTS IN UPTOWN LEXINGTON

Nov 14-20: Decorating trees in uptown Lexington District with Christmas lights.

Nov. 20: Pop Up Market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Bull City Ciderworks, 599 S. Railroad St.

Nov. 20: Uptown Christmas Decoration Contest begins; uptown merchants will decorate their buildings and windows for a chance at five cash prizes

Nov. 21: Uptown Lexington Christmas Open House, 1-6 p.m.

Nov. 21: Lighting of big Christmas tree on the Square.

Nov. 27: Small Business Saturday with downtown merchants and restaurants. Voting begins in the Christmas Decorating Contest.

Dec. 6: Uptown Lexington Christmas Parade, Main Street.

He is also excited about who he secured as the grand marshal for the Uptown Lexington Christmas Parade — Nia Franklin, the 2019 Miss America and a former Davidson County resident.

Nia Franklin, the 2019 Miss America and former Davidson County resident and North Davidson High School graduate, will serve as the grand marshal for the 2021 Uptown Lexington Christmas Parade on Dec. 6.
Nia Franklin, the 2019 Miss America and former Davidson County resident and North Davidson High School graduate, will serve as the grand marshal for the 2021 Uptown Lexington Christmas Parade on Dec. 6.

Before the parade can march down Main Street and before Main Street closes for the annual Christmas Open House carriage and train rides there have to be lights. From Nov. 14-20, locals will notice workers stringing white lights on the Chinese lace bark elms that line Main Street.

The lights will be wrapped around the trees differently this year, based on the advice of arborists with Frady Tree Service, which has performed a lot of maintenance work on the trees.

"Previously, the lights were fastened on the trees with zip ties," Gordon said. "They stayed up year-round. The limbs were growing around the zip ties. It was hurting the growth of the trees."

This year, the lights will be strung around the trunk of the tree and then go up into the canopy, but not be wrapped around every limb. Gordon said his office wants to hear from the public about whether they like or do not like the new light stringing method.

On Nov. 20 from 10 a.m.- to p.m. the new Pop Up Market will take place at Bull City Ciderworks. Uptown Lexington is partnering with the Lexington Area Chamber of Commerce and the Davidson-Davie Community College Small Business Center for this event.

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The Pop Up Market will feature shopping with more than 30 vendors, storytime with Santa at 10:30 a.m., a paint and sip with Art 101 at 12:30 a.m., as well as Christmas ornament-making activities and a Toys for Tots Toy Drive all day. In addition, there will be food trucks. Bull City Ciderworks is located at 599 S. Main St.

In 2020, when ULI was forced to cancel the Christmas Open House because of the governor's crowd control mandates, the merchants in downtown Lexington banded together to put on their own Christmas Open House.

"I was new on the job and supported them any way I could," he said "This year, we'll have all the usual things."

This year Uptown Lexington is back in the director's chair and bringing back the horse-drawn carriage and wagon rides and train rides. The train rides will be free for children. The carriage and train rides will cost $10 per person or $30 for four to six family members or small groups. The rides will leave from near the Square. Only cash will be accepted.

Pour Folks Pizza food trailer will be on-site making flatbread pizzas for sale and two groups of carolers from Rich Fork Baptist and Light of the World churches will roam throughout the downtown area entertaining.

Santa will be on hand for visits at the Square beginning at 1 p.m. Photos will be taken by Matt Hand with Side Street Studios and uploaded to an album later on Facebook for parents to download and print. If you want Hand to make a print, it will cost $5.

The day will end with a concert from 5-7 p.m. by the Raleigh Ringers at the Edward C. Smith Civic Center. Tickets are available on the civic center's website at https://www.smithciviccenter.org/. Tickets cost $15 for adults and $10 for children younger than 12 to attend the handbell performance.

In addition, the large Christmas tree on the Square will be lit at 6 .m.

While uptown, view all the holiday-decorated buildings and windows and vote on your favorite The business receiving the most votes will claim the $1,500 first-place prize in the Uptown Lexington Christmas Decoration contest. Second place will receive $1,250; $1,000, third place; $750, fourth place; and, $500, fifth place

"It's not just decorating windows this year," he said. "It's not really fair when some stores have these huge windows for displays, and some have only one, small window so we decided to make it where merchants can decorate the buildings, too. We're asking they be complete by the Open House date."

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How voting will take place has not been decided yet. Gordon said it will likely be a combination of voting in person at the stores and voting online through the Uptown Lexington website at https://uptownlexingtonnc.com/.

Uptown Lexington Inc. sponsored Christmas events will end with the annual Christmas parade at 6 p.m. Dec. 6. The parade will start on Main Street near Hemsted Street and make its way down Main Street, ending at West Ninth Avenue. So far about 35 entries have reserved a spot in the parade. Entries are being accepted through Nov. 22 on ULI's website. A Google form can be filled out on the site or a PDF downloaded and filled out.

Gordon said he is most excited that Franklin will serve as the grand marshal for the parade.

"I thought with her being local it would be great to have her for the grand marshal."

Jill Doss-Raines is The Dispatch trending topics and personality profiles senior reporter and is always looking for tips about businesses and entertainment events, secret and new menu items, and interesting people in Davidson County. Contact me at jill.doss-raines@the-dispatch.com and subscribe to us at the-dispatch.com.

This article originally appeared on The Dispatch: Uptown Lexington Inc. will offer a full slate of events to celebrate Christmas