Hartsville Christmas celebration scheduled for Dec. 5

Hartsville is gearing up for an old-fashioned Christmas celebration on Dec. 5 beginning with the 2009 Hartsville Christmas Parade.

There will be activities going on all day from the morning parade to the Christmas tree lighting in the evening, said Mayor Mel Pennington, Christmas parade chairman. He said this is what he has been striving for the last couple of years that he has been parade chairman: to offer the community a family day in downtown Hartsville following the parade.

People from all over the Pee Dee, he said, will want to come and spend the day in Hartsville.

The parade starts at 10:30 a.m. and will be a festive event with several bands, lots of floats, queens and other entries. Santa and Mrs. Claus will also be there too.

The Christmas parade will begin in the Newsome parking lot in Central Plaza, travel down Fifth Street toward town. It will turn right onto Laurens Avenue then turn left on Fourth Street and proceed to turn left onto Carolina Avenue. The parade will travel down Carolina Avenue to end at the Thornwell School for the Arts.

The Good Living Marketplace will open that morning along Cargill Way and continue until 2 p.m. followed by a Christmas concert in the park.

The second Screen on the Green will begin at 5:30 p.m. in Burry Park with a showing of the “Polar Express,” Pennington said.

At the conclusion of the movie, the Christmas tree lighting ceremony will begin. The tree is being obtained locally, Pennington said.

To end the day, the Hartsville Community Players are presenting “O Happy Day,” a delightful retelling of the Christmas story in a modern, musical youthful way. The play begins at 7 p.m. in the Center Theater, 212 N. Fifth Street. There will also be a performance at 7 p.m. Friday.

To sign up to be in the parade, call the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce at (843) 332-6401.