JARRETT GOODMAN
Staff Writer
Vicki Messer of the Marion County Chamber of Commerce recently provided several major updates regarding the organization’s upcoming Christmas in a Small Town event.
Scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 13, the newly planned event is set to contain a wide range of vendors and Christmas activities for residents to experience during the holidays. The event serves to significantly expand upon Jasper’s annual Christmas Parade, as well as make Jasper a more recognized community within Tennessee.
During this month’s city meeting in Jasper, Messer explained the chamber hosted a workshop the week prior to discuss the current status of the upcoming event. She shared that the Town of Jasper, along with the chamber and many other community members have joined forces to ensure the event’s success and well reputation. Emails from an abundance of vendors and craftsmen have been sent to the chamber each day, prompting excitement towards the scale of the event and all who will join it as participating vendors. Up to 55 vendors were noted to willingly participate in the event so far, the lack of a vendor charge playing a role in the large influx. Messer also stated that businesses within Courthouse Square were invited to partake in the festivities in their own way to promote their establishments in the historic square.
Messer also commented on city office staff’s hard work and efforts creating flyers and slips that will be taken to schools in the community. The flyer will be used for children to not only choose a name for the town’s ice skating rink, but also to bring an ornament to place onto the new community Christmas tree, set to be introduced for the event. All flyers and slips for the naming of the rink are to be turned in by Dec. 8 at the Carolyn Stewart Public Library.
“There was just so much that has come about, and they had to ring me in because ideas just kept flowing in,” said Messer.
The event is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13 in Courthouse Square, followed by the parade at 6 p.m. The Jasper Fire Department will fireworks for the event, all of them going off at 8 p.m. to help conclude the holiday festivities in style.