By Chris Moore

Chris.moore@panews.com

 

It will begin to look a lot like Christmas in Nederland on Dec. 1 as Boston Avenue will host Christmas on the Avenue.

Deadline for vendors to register to set up a booth during the event is 5 p.m. Monday. Those looking to register should go by the Parks and Recreation Center to fill out an application and pay a $25 vendor booth fee.

“Right now, we have around 65 vendors,” Parks and Recreations Director Angela Fanette said. “The event will have an ice skating and snow-mazing maze, which is a large maze that will be set up in the middle of Boston Avenue.”

The event will run from 2-8 p.m. At 6 p.m., there will be a tree-lighting ceremony at Tex Ritter Park.

“At that time, it will snow at Tex Ritter Park,” Fanette said. “We’ll announce our essay and art contest winners and our scavenger hunt winners. We’ll have a petting zoo. We’ll have lots of activities, lots of shopping.

“A lot of our booths are craft-type booths. There is a lot of food, local honeys and preserves, artwork, yard art. Just a lot of different types of booths.”

Over the next few weeks, residents might notice the city beginning to transform.

“The large ornaments are going up around town on the light poles,” Fanette said. “Then, we’ll be working on our windmill blades and getting our Christmas tree up. We’re working on decorating Tex Ritter Park.”

For over a decade, Christmas on the Avenue has grown from a little craft time at City Hall to dozens of vendors.

“It was at the old City Hall and we just made little paper crafts with the kids, and the event has steadily grown,” Fanette said. “We’re very excited about it. People can come out and visit and see all of the things that Nederland has to offer. It’s like a big family hangout on Boston Avenue.”

Fanette said residents can buy a 2018 city of Nederland ornament.

“That helps offset the cost of the community program,” she said. “We want people to have fun and if people want to have a little piece of Nederland hanging on their tree, we have those for sale at the recreation center as well.”