WMVO Good Times Great Oldies
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio – The holiday season is right around the corner and Downtown Mount Vernon is preparing for a busy Winter in Downtown! Experience Mount Vernon has been hard at work creating a schedule of festivities to bring the holiday spirit to the central business district, and invites the Mount Vernon community and beyond to join in on the fun.
Beginning on Saturday, November 26 with Shop Small Saturday, the merchants downtown will be open beginning at 11am to celebrate the national holiday. Experience Mount Vernon encourages you to stop at all of the retail, restaurants and craft artisan shops in the corridor to help kick off the holiday shopping season. Head to the facebook pages of each store to find out more about the special offerings, deals and attractions taking place. Following a day full of shopping, the Lighting of Public Square will take place at 5pm. Presented by Open Road Renewables, gather on Public Square to help us
create that hallmark moment when the lights turn on for the first time! Mayor Matt Starr will be flipping the switch and lighting up the night!
The Downtown Mount Vernon Gingerbread Forest is also slated to take over Public Square on Saturday, November 26.
Sponsored by local businesses, and created by local artists, the gingerbread people are a true community collaboration! Experience Mount Vernon thanks Knox County Career Center Schools and the Building Trades department for all of their help in producing the gingerbread figures. As part of the Gingerbread Forest, Experience Mount Vernon has partnered with Habitat for Humanity and Park National bank for the second annual Playhouse Project in Knox County. A gingerbread house created by Habitat for Humanity of Knox County will be on display from November 26 through the end of the year. Community members and visitors alike are encouraged to visit Public Square during the holiday season
to check out the forest and grab a few pictures of your favorites! Don’t forget to tag us on all of your social media pictures. Following the display period, the house will be donated to a local family to be used as a playhouse for years to come.
The Annual Holiday Parade is back to being a Sunday event! Sponsored by Park National Bank, the parade will begin its route at 2pm on Sunday, November 27. The parade route for this year will start at Sugar Street, run down North Main and around the west side of Public Square. The route will pass by the square and continue down South Main Street to Howard Street where the parade will end. Experience Mount Vernon and sponsor Park National Bank, are pleased to announce the parade theme for this year is Gingerbread Forest. Businesses, organizations and other community groups are invited to sign up for the parade through a registration link located on the “#Experience Events” page of ExperienceMV.org. The link will have information concerning set-up time, parade awards, and deadlines for the event. A
list of award sponsors will be released closer to the parade date. Following the parade, Lewis & Clark Insurance and Santa will be available for pictures from 3-5pm in the downstairs lobby of The Mount Vernon Grand Hotel.
Wrapping up the holiday events from the office of Experience Mount Vernon, the Festival of Lights is back! This residential house lighting competition is sponsored by ProCore Health Brokers and challenges residents within the city limits of Mount Vernon to see who has the best lighting display for their homes. Registration for the event will be available both on the Experience Mount Vernon facebook page and ExperienceMV.org and will close Monday, December 19. Voting will close Sunday, December 18 at 9pm.
To learn more about the Downtown Mount Vernon Gingerbread Forest, Shop Small Saturday, Annual Holiday Parade,
Square Lighting Ceremony, Festival of Lights or to join the downtown movement, head to www.experiencemv.org..
- Once approved, participating houses will be photographed and logged. A map of the locations will be made
available prior to the event. The event will take place Saturday, December 17 from 6-9pm when those who have been
approved must have their displays on for viewing. At 6pm on the 17th Experience Mount Vernon will release the photos
on their Facebook page of the participating house and voting will be open so you can help us decide the Festival of Lights
winner. Mayor Starr will announce the winners on Monday, December 19. Voting will close Sunday, December 18 at 9pm.
To learn more about the Downtown Mount Vernon Gingerbread Forest, Shop Small Saturday, Annual Holiday Parade,
Square Lighting Ceremony, Festival of Lights or to join the downtown movement, head to www.experiencemv.org..
