The time is drawing closer for an in-town holiday shopping weekend, complete with Santa Claus and the Grinch!  The Hometown Christmas Festival will be held at the Event Center in Malad on November 28 (11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) and 29 (9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) with a number of scheduled events each day.

As a set of corrections to last week’s story on the Festival: Leila Hoopes is the event’s organizer.  The picture that accompanied last week’s story featured JoLynn John, though it was from another event at the Event Center, and not last year’s Festival.  The event has been in existence in one form or another and held at various locations over the last 15 or so years.  We apologize the errors, which appear to be related to confusion with a separate, unrelated event near the same time last year.

The material related to the events at the Festival is printed here again:   

Children will be able to decorate Christmas stockings each day from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.  

Children can also drop off a Christmas Card to Santa in “The North Pole Mailbox.”  There’s every chance in the world that Santa will send back a response, provided the writing is legible!  

There will be a lunch on Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., which will include soup and rolls, as well as drinks.

Every half hour during the event, a drawing will be held for a free gift from one of the vendors on site (must be present to win).  

On Saturday, children can have their pictures taken with Santa and the Grinch while their parents shop.

Proceeds from the event will be given to local veterans organizations.

The wide range of items which are confirmed to be at the event include: vanilla, handcrafted local artisan items, western designer clothes, goat milk, designer soaps, nails, wood designer items, baby items, kitchen crafts, handcrafted earrings, homemade candy treats, western wreaths, honey, Christmas décor, children’s educational games, native designs, repurposed wool, car fresheners, handmade Christmas cards, freeze dried local fruit, stonecrafted jewelry, hand-crafted T-shirts, and a lot more.

There are quite a few holiday events on the December calendar--the Hometown Christmas Festival makes for a great time at the end of November to get a start on the season as soon as the plates are cleared from Thanksgiving.