By Rachel Thomson
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in downtown Montesano. Holiday wreaths and dazzling, twinkling lights are starting to pop up everywhere in preparation for the annual Festival of Lights, set for the weekend of December 12-14.
This year’s theme is “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Festival organizer Moraya Wilson says that this year’s theme gives a chance for decorators to stick to a traditional holiday display, or use the number twelve in their theme and go for a more contemporary blue-and-green route to show their love for the Seattle Seahawks.
“People can use the twelve theme to commemorate the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl, but they can also use the twelve in a more traditional sense,” Wilson said. “They can be as creative as they want. It’s an open theme and we’re excited with it.”
Highlights of the festival include singing Christmas carols, a Jingle Bell Jog, a Santa Pancake Breakfast, craft fair, scavenger hunt, and of course, a lighted holiday parade with floats, marching bands and logging trucks, fire engines and other vehicles bedazzled with thousands of colorful lights.
One favorite festival pastime is the lights display contest. It’s not just a chance for residents to rival each other for the best, brightest displays. Businesses have gotten in to the action, too.
For Ken Albert, a US Army and Air Force Veteran who is also the branch manager at Umpqua Bank, the Festival is a way to provide a visual treat for the community and thank their customers at the end of the year for their business.
“People kind of expect us to do it (decorate),” Albert said. “It’s a great way for us to give back to the community.”
For several years, employees at the bank have decorated the lobby and store front with elaborate displays. Once there was a miniature village display and huge garlands along the windows and multiple Christmas trees near the teller’s stations. Albert says it takes the whole staff a couple of days from start to finish to complete the decorating job every year. And it pays off—the bank has won numerous awards for their displays during past festivals.
Albert, who has lived in Montesano for over a decade, says the quaint setting of the parade gives the festival a unique, relaxed kind of feeling.
“It’s one of the few community ‘old-time’ kind of parades. It harkens back to a good old days small town kind of Christmas,” he explains.
He says the festival is one of the biggest the community has during the year, drawing locals and out-of-towners alike. He said the festival can easily have more than 10,000 in attendance. Even bad weather won’t keep die-hard festival goers away.
“I remember one year, it started to snow.” Albert recalls. “It was just enough powder to cover things a little, but not enough to cause any problems. People were standing out there watching the parade in the snow. It was nice to see that big, lighted truck roll down the street when it started to snow.”
Here are some of the holiday-themed events. A complete schedule can be found on the website of the Montesano Chamber of Commerce. More photos and updates can also be viewed on the festival’s Facebook page.
Friday, December 12
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The festivities kick off with music and holiday treats. Community members will sing Christmas carols and serve hors d’oerves at the Montesano High School commons, 303 N. Church St.
Saturday, December 13
8:00 a.m. Registration begins for Jingle Bell Jog. Jog begins at 10 a.m. Participants should meet by the Montesano Post Office, 211 Pioneer Ave.
8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Early risers can fill their tummies with a holiday flapjacks. A Santa Pancake Breakfast and Silent Auction will be held at the Montesano Community Center, 120 Marcy Ave. W.
10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Craft fair at the Montesano Middle School Gym. 303 N. Church St.
6:00 p.m. Parade. Spectators have several streets they can stand on or pack lawn chairs to view lighted floats and marching bands. The route starts on West Church Street, then proceeds onto East Sprague Avenue, South Main Street, and ends on Pioneer Avenue.
Sunday, December 14
The festival concludes with a Christmas Cantana at 7:00 p.m. at the United Methodist Church, 401 Spruce St. E.
