Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 21, 1995 TAG: 9511210081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Officials of several civic groups also announced Monday that plans for the holidays include a Jingle Bell Run and the annual Festival of Trees on the top floor of the First Union Tower.
New this year will be the Festival of Lights, starting with a parade in downtown Roanoke the evening of Dec. 2. Catherine Fox, representing the Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, said many of the units in the parade this year will be electrified.
The Roanoke Times will help sponsor a residential- and business- lighting contest, featuring a registry of places that are lighted for the holidays. Entry forms will be printed in the Neighbors section of the newspaper for the next two Thursdays.
Dec. 4 is the deadline to return the forms, and displays will be judged during that week. Prizes will be offered in 10 categories.
The 500 merchants and property owners who belong to Downtown Roanoke Inc. raised $11,000 to buy new Christmas decorations this year.
Matthew Kennell, executive director of the organization, said the old tinsel decorations "have outlasted their useful lives, and much negative press was written concerning their condition." The old decorations, he said, "showed their age."
The organization announced a three-way strategy for decorating.
It has purchased new "star and star spray" lighted decorations for 17 intersections downtown. In addition, 75 banners featuring stars and bows will be hung along South Jefferson Street.
To decorate every downtown street and intersection would cost $100,000, Kennell said. Downtown Roanoke will try to raise funds to increase the scope of the decorations every year.
Also, more than 20 downtown buildings will be lit with perimeter lighting, including, for the first time, the Norfolk Southern building and the old courthouse.
Finally, the annual greening of the market will get under way at 8 a.m. today. This year, the market Santa Claus will appear in a Victorian robe instead of the familiar red pants.
Dickens of a Christmas will be held on three successive Friday nights, Dec. 1, 8 and 15. The Victorian Santa will arrive by carriage at 6 p.m. at the City Market, where there will be caroling and other entertainment. Carriage rides will be available from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., along with chestnut vending, hot chocolate, hot cider, cookies and candy canes.
Fantasyland will move this year to the Roanoke History Museum in Center in the Square. Kennell said officials at Heironimus asked Fantasyland to move away from there this year, even though the store won't close until after Christmas.
The museum has half the space of the store's second floor, but Kennell said 90 percent of the mechanical figures can be displayed because of a better layout.
Fantasyland will be open this year on Friday evenings during Dickens of a Christmas and on Sunday afternoons from noon to 5 p.m.
The Festival of Trees will open Friday through Dec. 23. The hours are noon to 4:30 p.m. Sundays; 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays; and 9:30 a.m. through 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. The festival, planned as a fund-raising event for the Mental Health Association of the Roanoke Valley, will show 21 trees sponsored by local organizations.
The Jingle Bell run-walk through downtown, sponsored by Lewis Gale Hospital to benefit the Arthritis Foundation, will begin with a costume contest at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 9.
Downtown merchants will hold open house from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
by CNB