Have a Holly, Jolly Hometown Holidays: Annual Christmas event returns to Tifton
Published 10:37 am Tuesday, December 10, 2024
Before and after his appearance atop City Hall, Santa was down at the intersection of 3rd and Main, available for photos and requests from kids for what they'd like for Christmas.
The members of the Tift County High ROTC were among the vanguard of the holiday parade, marching down 2nd St in perfect formation.
Led by a convoy of police cars and emergency vehicles, Santa waved at onlookers for the parade from above in an aerial platform belonging to the city Fire Department.
Santa Claus waves from the balcony above City Hall, wishing tidings of great joy to the crowd of Hometown Holidays patrons.
This truck from Dirty South Kustoms flexed its tricked-out suspension as part of the parade, driving in a perfectly straight line even as the body of the car was skewed diagonally.
A pair of youths roast marshmallows over an open fire at one of the smores stations available to guests along 1st St.
Joining the festivities of Hometown Holidays this year were a handful of carnival rides, including this Rapid Slide not unlike the attraction often present at the Coastal Plains Fair.
Two children try their luck at Penguins Escape, a competitive game where players bop the lit-up heads of penguins to score points.
Paying homage to the classic Christmas movie "The Polar Express," this float from Journey Church joined the parade decorated like the iconic locomotive, adorned with a punched golden ticket, and accompanied by on-foot paraders dressed in pajamas referencing the characters of the film.
Singer Laura Wiley set up on the corner of 3rd and Main, playing country songs throughout the night to entertain passing by patrons of the event.
This Ryland Environmental truck taking part in the parade was fully decked out in holiday cheer.
Mayor Julie Smith, accompanied by her fellow city council members and a handful of children she invited to help light the trees, prepares to do just that as she thanks the people of Tifton for supporting the local event.
A rather festive truck taking part in the holiday parade, strung up in enough lights to decorate a roof and sporting a jolly inflatable Santa that greeted guests of the parade as it passed by.
Mexican restaurant El Metate had one of the more decorated floats of the parade, sporting numerous flags of nations around the world, an inflatable plane carrying a jolly Saint Nick, and a blow-up snowglobe with their own logo inside.
A handful of youths enjoy a spell inside a life-sized inflatable snow globe, complete with presents and snow to play around with.
The newly opened Red Owl Coffee Company enjoyed quite a bit of foot traffic as one of the downtown businesses that kept their doors open for the festivities, with plenty of patrons stopping in for a warm drink amid the cool winter evening.
Plenty of people swung by the ice skating rink throughout the evening, evidently excited for its return from last year's festivities.
Among the special guests participating in the festivities and parade was Tifton's own New Year's Eve mascot Matt the Gnat, popping in to Hometown Holidays to announce the approach of his own event at the end of the month. Matt was accompanied by Tift County commissioner Melissa Hughes, who assisted the gnat in hyping up his coming celebration.
TIFTON — While it might be a stretch to call it a “Miracle on Main Street,” this year’s Hometown Holidays nonetheless left patrons feeling full of Christmas spirit.
The return of the winter season also brought the coming of Tifton’s annual holiday celebration, inviting residents to Main Street Dec. 7 take part in a night of holly jolly festivities and usher in the season of giving.
The celebration kicked off like always with the holiday parade, local organizations and businesses in the community decked in red, green, and twinkling lights as they rolled down 2nd St and onto Love Avenue in promenade.
Many of the floats paid homage to the parade’s “Christmas Around the World” theme, sporting globes and flags of various countries alongside their festive features.
And of course, taking up the rear of the procession and led by a convoy of police cars and emergency vehicles was old Saint Nick, waving to onlookers and wishing them a Merry Christmas from atop a city fire truck.
Once the parade had made its way down Love Avenue, patrons of the holiday celebration flocked to Main Street for the bulk of the night’s festivities.
Vendors lined both sides of the road practically from 2nd St down to 3rd and even spilling onto those intersections, offering passersby last minute gift ideas in the form of jewelry, toys, or decorations, or a warm snack to help stave off the evening cold.
The Cato Knight parking lot was fully stocked with food vendors as well, providing piping hot food like burgers, hot dogs, Mexican, and fair food for patrons to enjoy amid the event’s festivities.
Several of Downtown Tifton’s businesses gladly kept their doors open during the festivities to welcome patrons for a bit of shopping, including Don Julio’s, Savor the Flavor, who were hosting their own pop-up market in the square behind their store, and the newly opened downtown location of Red Owl Coffee Company.
1st St became host to the more holiday themed activities of the celebration, encouraging guests to write letters to Santa, enjoy hot cocoa and popcorn from the Tift Animal Rescue and the city fire department, respectively, try out a handful of winter-themed games and activities–including frolicking around in a life-sized snowglobe–or make their way down to the corner of 1st and Commerce Way for a bit of ice skating.
And once the sun had set, Mayor Julie Smith took to the stage on 1st St to wish everyone a happy Hometown Holidays and light the trees over City Hall.
Wanting a bit of help in illuminating those Christmas trees, Smith invited a handful of kids up on stage to do the honors, presenting them with a “magic switch” required to make the trees merry and bright.
After a countdown, a flip of the switch, and the crowd believing with all their heart, the trees lit up in brilliant gold lights and shining white stars, and Santa himself stepped out onto the balcony to once again wish the crowd a Merry Christmas.
Smith then encouraged those attending the festivities to enjoy themselves at the holiday event for the remainder of the evening, thanking them for coming out to celebrate the Christmas spirit alongside her and the rest of their community.