As the holiday season approaches, the traditional “Downtown Christmas Open House” this weekend includes lighting of the extensive decorations of Yoctangee Park.
“Shine On Chillicothe” has been setting up since the start of October, and the switch will be thrown on all the Christmas lights at 6:20 this Friday evening at the city Christmas tree at Paint and Water streets.
I had a fireside chat with a co-founder and board member who explained what’s new and old. Hear Marsha Wagner in her own words in our video interview.
The Downtown Christmas Open House always happens the weekend before Thanksgiving, with special hours for shops, and other activities like Santa arriving Friday evening at the park entrance. Music and some laughs will precede his riding up in the city trolley bus. Afterward, he will parade back down to his house at Memorial Armory.
Wagner said their annual May fundraiser at the Pour House for the four-year-old light show funds new displays. A “Shine On” sign will be on the far side of the park lake this year. The tunnels of lights won’t be quite ready yet, though, until December 2nd.
She said this appears to be the last year for the dying city Christmas tree, and until a newly planted one is large enough to make a good showing, a lighted 30-foot “pole tree” will start to take its place next year.
Then the annual Chillicothe Christmas Tour of Homes will be a few weeks later, on December 14th and 15th. The tour of mid-century and older houses off Belleview Avenue and on the Hilltop includes a nighttime tour on Friday evening. Wagner says nearby museums will hold free open houses.
The tour proceeds will help pay for canal markers planned to highlight the historic waterway…and Wagner says the lights feed people’s souls.
“Shine On Chillicothe” has a website, Facebook page, and Instagram account. The light show has also earned a listing on the “Ohio Holiday Lights Trail,” a listing by the state tourism bureau.