Plan your visit to Downtown Waynesburg from 5 to 8:00 pm on Friday, Dec. 6, for the 11th annual Light-Up Night and Holiday Open House, sponsored by EQT and presented by Waynesburg Prosperous & Beautiful. Serving as the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season, Light-Up Night will feature extended hours at many Downtown Waynesburg stores, live entertainment, seasonal foods and fun for the whole family.
This year brings back many favorite activities like the free wagon rides, caricatures, pictures with Santa, the Memories & Melodies DJ Party on the west end, and the Cricket Wireless Letters from Santa Station. Joining the line-up of activities this year will be a variety of food vendors, including roasted chickens and BBQ. Also returning after a short hiatus is ‘Flix on Brix’ with some of our favorite animated Christmas movie classics like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Beginning at 3:30 pm, several blocks of High Street will be closed to motorized traffic. Activities start at 5pm with Santa Claus on site to welcome children, visitors and shoppers alike. All the other activities begin around 5pm as well, and at 6pm, there will be a tree lighting ceremony for the big Christmas tree that graces the front of Greene County Courthouse. Following the ceremony, free pictures with Santa will be provided by McMillen Photography at the Greene County Courthouse with treats for the first 150 children, compliments of First Federal Savings & Loan.
Watch for the specially decorated store fronts to remind you as well! Downtown merchants will be lighting and decorating their windows in advance to compete for cash prizes for best decorated windows, sponsored by Community Bank. You can join in on voting for the Community Choice Award by liking your favorite window displays on Waynesburg Prosperous & Beautiful’s Facebook page beginning Tuesday, Dec. 3.
“This special evening has become a holiday tradition for many people in the area, reminiscent of an old-fashioned Christmas, with carolers and all the sparkle and magic of small-town America,” says event chair JoAnne Marshall of Greene County Tourist Promotion Agency. There will be plenty of shopping available, both indoors and outdoors. As usual, fire barrels will be lit along High Street for holiday shoppers to pause for a visit and warm their hands. 
One of the most popular activities of the evening are the horse-drawn wagon rides by Rocky Ridge Acres, which offers free rides all evening. “With the generous sponsorship of EQT, nearly all the activities are free this year. Take a ride through the decorated streets of town in a horse drawn wagon, enjoy all the musical entertainment, get a free caricature drawing…there is so much to see and do– and it’s for the whole family,” JoAnne adds.
The Cricket Wireless Letters from Santa Station allows children who come with their parents to write their letters to Santa that evening. Either way, with special coordination with the North Pole, each child who participates will receive a personal letter from Santa.
Returning this year, the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW will be roasting chickens. The chickens and a side dish will be available for purchase; orders can be eaten downtown amidst the festivities or to-go. Early reservations are recommended to ensure you get one of these delicious chickens!
Lippencott Alpacas will also be at the festivities to welcome the holiday shoppers with their adorable live alpacas and alpaca apparel, accessories, yarns and gifts. Greene County Tourist Promotion Agency’s souvenir maps feature the locations of all activities, food and participating merchants, will be distributed to help guide shoppers through the festivities.
Waynesburg Prosperous & Beautiful is a Main Street program that operates in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Downtown Center. Main Street programs emphasize critical time-sensitive stabilization and revitalization of historic downtowns business districts. For more information on the Holiday Open House, call 724-627-8119.
There’s More the Next Day…
The following day, Saturday, Dec. 7, Greene County Chamber of Commerce will present the 2019 Christmas Parade beginning at 2pm. The execution of the parade is underwritten by FirstEnergy Foundation. Miss Rain Day 2019, Katie Swauger, and the Chamber’s 2019 Distinguished Service Award recipients, Buzz Walters, the family of the late Brian Tennant, McCracken Legacy Award recipients Fox Ford, and 2019 Jack McCracken Award recipient George ‘Bly’ Blystone will have the honor of leading the parade down High Street as its Grand Marshals.
The parade will be live-streamed via Facebook (facebook.com/greenecountypachamber). Late entries will be accepted in the parade through Nov. 27th. If you want more info on the parade, call the Chamber office at 724-627-5926 or visit the website at www.greenechamber.com.