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The special glow that comes with the Christmas season once again will be seen as communities across the Tri-State Area hold their light-up events.
Those evenings help to create a sense of joy and anticipation as they bring residents together to celebrate and enjoy a festive atmosphere where camaraderie always is on display.
Celebrations began Saturday in Weirton, when the Weirton Festival Committee held Christmas on Main Street. The celebration included vendors and family-oriented activities as well as live entertainment, an outdoor skating rink and the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus. The celebration ended with the lighting of Weirton's Christmas tree in front of the Millsop Center and a fireworks display.
Historic Fort Steuben Park at the corner of Third and Market streets in Steubenville will see the return of holiday magic Tuesday. The city's Holiday Market and displays will open at 3 p.m. as part of Steubenville Lights up the Night activities. It's a chance to visit the nutcrackers that have earned national acclaim, shop the various vendors that will be set up, take in a performance by the Brenda Casey Dancers in the Berkman Amphitheater, see the light display at the Jefferson County Courthouse and visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus. It all will lead up to the official lighting of the city's Christmas tree at 6:15 p.m., which will be followed by a fireworks display.
The official opening of the Steubenville Nutcracker Village is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday throughout the streets of downtown. Five new nutcrackers are scheduled to be revealed, and North Fourth Street will be closed to traffic to create a street festival atmosphere that will include vendors and the German Gluhwein Garden, with the Children's Corner scheduled to offer games and crafts.
Toronto also will be celebrating Tuesday, when the city's annual light-up event begins at 7 p.m. at the Gazebo Commons, located at the corner of North Third and Market streets. Officials with the Toronto Coalition for Revitalization, which organizes the event, say the evening will include caroling and the lighting of luminaries, with proceeds split among the Helping Hands Food Pantry, the Toronto Police Department's Christmas with a Cop effort, the Toronto Kiwanis Club's Coats for Kids campaign and Crossroads Christian Church's Toys for Toronto project.
Wellsburg will hold its tree lighting after Friday's parade, which will begin at 4 p.m., and Follansbee has scheduled its light-up program for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for Dec. 2. Wintersville will have a couple of lighting events -- one on Dec. 2 inside the Wintersville Methodist Church as part of a Christmas concert that will begin at 4 p.m., and the other on Dec. 3 in front of the Village Building following the village's annual Christmas parade, which will begin at 4 p.m. And, Mingo Junction's light-up festivities will begin at 6 p.m. Dec. 4 in the green space near the Village Building.
We hope you will participate in the festivities as our area once again shines with the spirit of the holidays.