Wind and a cold drizzle were not enough to keep hundreds from Christmas on Main Street, the annual holiday event sponsored by the Laurinburg Downtown Revitalization Corporation.
Thanks to a visit from the Scotland High School football team, LDRC Chairman Jim Willis said that this year’s version of Christmas on Main Street is among the best in the event’s long history.
“These guys in blue here are a big reason for this being one of the best (Christmas on Main Street) events we have had,” Willis told a crowd of locals huddled onto the sidewalk near the top end of Main Street as he introduced the team.
Coach Richard Bailey and his football players stole the show Sunday afternoon when they participated in “Meet the Scots,” having their photos taken with fans of the team.
Following “Meet the Scots” Bailey addressed attendees, saying that he feels “blessed to be part of a great community” in his first year on the job as Scots coach.
“Thanks to you all, everywhere we play is a home game,” Bailey said, asking fans to make the drive to New Bern to support the team in playoffs on Friday.
Throughout the day members of the St. Andrews University Singers tracked up and down the sidewalk spreading cheer and singing Christmas carols to all those who would hear.
The doors of Main Street’s businesses were wide open for customers on Sunday, and many, including Harley’s Tuxedo and Gifts, managed to lure in dozens of window shoppers from the curbside.
At the entertainment area a number of area dance groups performed right in the middle of Main Street for onlookers on the sidewalk. Included among the entertainers were the Krazy Feet Cloggers, members of the Elite Dancing Academy, the Triple Toe Cloggers as well as member of the Scotland High School Color Guard.
Kicking off the event in the Scottish tradition were Bill Caudill and his bagpipes.
Also popular with the crowd were the acrobatics of the members of Morrison’s Martial Arts, which exhibited their well-rehearsed program, which included high kicks and board breaking.
Takings place alongside the Christmas on Main Street events was the second annual ARTScotland art fair. Housed in the Storytelling and Arts Center on Main Street, the fair, which started on Saturday, attracted many of the locals in to see the wide array of local art on show. Enticed inside by the stomping sounds of live bluegrass music, attendees found pottery, fiction, painting, holiday-themed crafts and other local items on sale.
Closing out the day was the city of Laurinburg’s annual tree lighting ceremony.
After the lights were flipped on by Laurinburg Mayor Tommy Parker the locals that stuck around sang Christmas songs in twilight on the James Lot adjacent to Main Street.
“Downtown Laurinburg was full today and we have a lot to celebrate in our community … it’s the time of year where we’re thankful for the people and businesses we have in Laurinburg,” said Parker.
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