Nov 23, 2014 3 min read

This can be a confusing and hectic time for many. No sooner were Halloween decorations taken down that there was talk about stores being open on Thanksgiving so shoppers could get great pre-holiday deals.

Wait. Isn’t Thanksgiving a holiday, too? Sometimes, it gets lost in the Christmas shopping frenzy.

Fortunately, traditionalist thinking is not lost on groups in Greene County, such as the Chamber of Commerce, Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful, Rotary Club of Waynesburg and a host of municipal leaders, who, year after year, are remindful of the importance of creating and maintaining the glow of the holiday spirit.

For the last several years, Christmas in Greene County was launched by a holiday kickoff weekend, beginning with a Holiday Open House sponsored by Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful on the first Friday in December. The next day is the annual Chamber of Commerce-sponsored Christmas parade, followed that evening by the Rotary Club’s Winter Wonderland Gala in the Greene County Courthouse.

So, if you are looking for that perfect gift, Downtown Waynesburg’s Holiday Open House from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 5 will offer plenty, especially in the way of original art – ceramics, glass, jewelry, prints, paintings, weavings, woodwork and more.

During Friday night’s festivities, horses giving carriage rides will clip-clop on the street, Christmas carols will fill the air and shoppers can warm their hands over the fire in streetcorner barrels. Then, go indoors to meet some artists and enjoy refreshments while they browse.

Perhaps the signature event of the Christmas season in Greene County is the parade Dec. 6, something Melody Longstreth, executive director of the chamber, has been producing on High Street for about 30 years.

“Yes, everything does seem to be all clumped up together,” Longstreth said, “but I think it is better than stringing things out right up to Christmas. Everybody has so much to do, other than organize.”

Nonetheless, if there is a standard bearer for the parade, it is Longstreth. “For years, it was just me and a committee. Now we have more bodies working to make this grow.”

In the last 10 years, the number of parade units was up and down. She said in 2003, there were 199, followed in chronological order by 127, 102, 92, 89 (no figures for 2008), 91 in 2009, then 90, 86 and 94 last year.

Longstreth said the parade usually takes about 70 to 90 minutes “When it’s warm, we slow down the procession; when it’s freezing, we speed them up,” she said. When it’s cold, she said, it not so bad for the kids marching, but it probably is for those who are standing and watching on the sidewalk.

Once you have cooled down or warmed up after watching the parade (December weather can be fickle), an elaborate gala awaits in the county courthouse.

Now in its fifth year, the Rotary Club of Waynesburg’s Winter Wonderland Gala is a magnificent way to end the holiday weekend events.

“People now should be getting in the holiday mood,” said Bette Stammerjohn, a Rotary member who has worked on the gala each of the four years. “Greene County does a good job in getting its residents psyched for the holidays,” she said.

In addition to the aforementioned happenings, there is Breakfast with Santa the morning of, yes, Dec. 6.

So, if you go and shop Thanksgiving or Black Friday and that gets you in the Christmas spirit, fine.

If you need more, visit Greene County this first weekend in December.

The real holiday spirit awaits you.