By: Shea Carver

Some folks sing “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” when thousands of twinkling lights drape across the cityscape, and red bows take over every available lamppost. Others may hum the blues—err, the greens—a la “you’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch” at the sight of heightened traffic and gingerbread-flavored everything at the local coffee shops. Regardless which side of the line one falls, escaping the tradition of the holiday season in America, much less Wilmington, is nearly impossible. So instead of dreading its inevitable onslaught, why not embrace it? Tons of events take place throughout November and December to make the season a merry event once again. Here’s what to look forward to over the next month!

TURKEY TROT
November 27th
Wrightsville Beach
It’s quite possible that exercise is the last activity on one’s mind in the midst of a holiday season. After indulging in mounds of turkey, mac ‘n’ cheese, green bean casserole and stuffing, simply bending over to tie a pair of shoelaces could easily be deemed as a workout.

Before letting the gorgefest of the season take its toll, plan ahead this year with a pre-Thanksgiving trot that will lessen the day’s massive caloric intake a pinch. The fourth annual Turkey Trot is being held on Thanksgiving Day at the Wrightsville Beach Loop. Yes, getting up early to register by 7:30am is on the agenda; however, that the trot benefits the local Habitat for Humanity should make up for the early rise (really, though, we’d be up early anyway for a little Macy’s Day Parade-watching, no?).

The trot is 2.4 miles around the loop, while the Gobbler Family Walk can be lessened to 1 mile if need be. Onsite registration commences at 7:30am at the Town Park and Gazebo, rain or shine; the walk begins at 8:20am. The cost is only $20 per person, while children under 12 participate for free. For more information, visit www.wilmingtonturkeytrot.com.

CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTINGS
November 28th, December 5th
Downtown Wilmington
While downtown Wilmington is already sparkling with wreaths, the official season hasn’t really jumpstarted until the downtown Christmas tree is lit at the foot of Market Street. On November 28th, the Downtown Holiday Tree Lighting, coordinated by the Downtown Business Alliance, will be lit by our very own mayor, Mr. Saffo. Adorned with ornaments made by area elementary school children from Ms. Bayliss’ class at Bellamy Elementary School and Ms. Canady’s class at Carolina Beach Elementary, the festivities will begin around 6pm, and the mayor will light up the tree at 6:25pm. Afterward, good ole Saint Nick himself will make his first trip of the year to downtown.

Continue making the fondest holiday memories by heading over to the World’s Largest Living Christmas Tree on December 4th, when it’ll be lit for the season. An ongoing tradition for 79 years, the 2008 events gets underway at Hilton Park (407 Hilton Street). The event will featuring holiday entertainment followed by the arrival of Santa.

Continuing on in the merry tradition, Old Saint Nick will be making appearances at Hilton Park throughout the season: December 4th-7th, 12th-14th, and 19th-21st at Hilton Park, 6-8:30pm. Children will receive a candy cane and a special toy.

WILMINGTON HOLIDAY PARADE
December 5th
Downtown, Hilton Park
As a child nothing excited me more than a parade. Free candy was my thing, and I loved huge balloons—especially the ones donning my favorite Peanuts characters, a la Macy’s. We may not have Snoopy flying overhead in Wilmington, but the candy part will be a shoe-in during the Wilmington Holiday Parade, which will take place on December 7th in historic downtown Wilmington at 5:10pm. The trail begins at North Front and Walnut streets, and will flow through the downtown streets (candy flying) and Santa ending it in his ho-ho-ho way! For those who won’t be around to experience the excitement, just tune into Time Warner Cable Channel 939, ATMC Channel 939, Charter Cable Channel 136 and Over the Air on Channel 6.2. Local community groups, schools, bands and businesses will come together to partake in this festive event!

ISLAND OF LIGHTS
Pleasure Island
November 28th-December 31st
Pleasure Island lights up the community every Christmas holiday with their annual Island of Lights. The events get underway one day after Thanksgiving as the ceremony begins the month-long celebration. Lighted displays trim the lake, and refreshments will be provided on November 28th, as Santa will also be on hand to greet visitors.

On December 5th the Island of Lights Parade takes place at 7:30pm, featuring floats, bands, queens, clowns and much more. The route will travel along Lake Park Boulevard from Atlanta Avenue to Federal Point Shopping Center for all eyes to enjoy. And the excitement continues with the Island of Lights Holiday Flotilla taking place the next day, December 6th. Parade-lovers are sure to find the nautical stream of fishing boats and pleasure crafts a thrill, as they’re electrically decorated with tons of lights, making for a spectacular display on the Intracoastal Waterway. The boats will cruise from Snows Cut to Carolina Beach Boat Basin and back, beginning at 6pm, and there will be free parking.

Like the many historic homes throughout downtown Wilmington, the rich culture of beach life brings its own whimsy to the holiday season. The Island of Lights Tour of Homes allows visitors to step inside the beach cottages to enjoy the Southern hospitality and warmth of the season through many gorgeous decorations. The self-guided tour will be held at one’s leisure on December 13th.

With the busy-bee buzz of the holiday comes another end to another year. And the Island of Lights brings on the countdown for a sizzling good time each New Year’s Eve, as they drop a giant lighted beach ball to mark 2009. A street dance and live music will take place in the evening, and a booming fireworks display welcomes in the New Year. Refreshments are available at this entertainment event for all ages—but best of all, it’s free.

ENCHANTED AIRLIE
Airlie Gardens
November 28th-December 20th
While folks in the Rockies really are “dashing through the snow” to enjoy the chill of the season, we Heat Misers in the South can lay off the layers to “dash through the sand” and enjoy the beautification of Airlie Gardens at Christmastime. The fourth annual event features magnificent light displays, beginning the Friday after Thanksgiving (November 28th) and running through the Saturday before Christmas (December 20th) every Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening. Folks can trek through 67 acres of gardens with access to Bradley Creek and 10 acres of freshwater lakes during one of two time slots: 5-7pm or 7-9pm.

On the historic grounds are magnificent “holiday flowers, festive lights, live musical entertainment and the largest display of model trains running in the Southeast,” according to Airlie’s PR company, Colonial Marketing.

Tickets must be pre-purchased and are available online or in Airlie’s Gardens Service Center for $4-$5 (parking is also $3). An economical value to this year’s tour is filling a carload for only $20 (excluding vans and buses). So pack in the fam and/or friends, and chip in for a little bit of holiday spirit. For more information, contact Airlie at 910-798-7700.

MAYFAIRE’S WINTER WONDERLAND
Mayfaire Town Centre
November 28th-December 24
We all often wish for the Norman Rockwell Christmas: the big white house among rolling hills time spent with friendly neighbors and family, sledding among the pines and sipping cider between singing carols. While 1950 is long gone, the idea of holiday tradition is not. That’s why Mayfaire is transforming the Rockwell image to fit more modern-day scenarios: shopping plazas hustling with holiday buyers, texting on their cell phones in between shots of espresso. It doesn’t mean we have to forgo the merriment of the season, though, does it?

The fast-lane society in which we live will be turned into a Winter Wonderland at Mayfaire, complete with holiday drummers and carolers, snow fairies, snow wands, Santa and snow cascading from the sky (courtesy of two snow machines fixed atop City Tavern and Fox & The Hound). The transformation will be unveiled on Friday, November 28th at 6:30pm, when the New Hanover High School marching band escorts Santa aboard Cape Fear’s Land Rover down Main Street. Snow wands will be handed to all the children in order to help Santa light 100 trees located on Main Street, as well as bring a sparkle to the 18-foot tree peering over the shopping plaza. Thereafter, illuminated snow flakes will dance from the sky, as Santa visits with the children from 7-8pm (no photography provided; personal cameras welcome).

And the fun won’t stop there. Many traditional holiday characters will come to life thanks to the Wilmington Ballet Company, who will perform selections from “The Nutcracker.” Accompanying them will be lilting voices of Thalian Hall’s holiday carolers. All of this will take place Monday through Saturday in front of the cinema at Mayfaire, at 7pm, through Christmas Eve.

For the li’l ones who want to make sure their lists get to Santa in time for the big night, head over to his village in the breezeway between Massage Envy and New York & Company on Main Street. A life-sized gingerbread house welcomes all, as Santa visits and hands out goodie bags (while supplies last, 1000). Professional photography by Grins 2 Go will be available for sale immediately, and can be customized at a later date. Santa’s hours are Monday through Friday, 11am-6pm; Saturday, 10am-4pm; and Sunday 12pm-4pm.

FLOTILLA
November 29th
Wrightsville Beach Park and Recreation
Wrightsville Beach at Thanksgiving is as celebratory a time as July 4th, these days. Just ask any local, and the annual Holiday Flotilla sparks many twinkles in the eye as an official kick-off to the holidays on the Southeastern coast. The NC Holiday Flotilla was recognized as a 2008 Southeast Tourism Society Top 20 Event, and will be held on November 29th.

There will be a full day of entertainment, as the free Festival in the Park takes place from 10am-4pm, at Wrighstville Beach Park and Recreation. Here, folks will enjoy arts and crafts, kids’ activities, amusements, food, an open-air bazaar and live entertainment. At 5:45pm, a tree-lighting ceremony will take place, along with a visit with Santa. Plus, folks will be able to meet Miss NC and participate in the annual Toys-for-Tots at Wrightsville Beach Town Hall. And if the fun isn’t in enough abundance, let the annual Flotilla Holiday Party, hosted by the Blockade Runner, cap off the night. There will be music by Liquid Pleasure, and the gala lasts from 7pm-midnight, with tickets going for $35.

For all boaters who want to enter the flotilla, wherein cash prizes and a trip to Costa Rica will be given away, just log onto www.ncholidayflotilla.org for all the information. They can also call (910) 256-2120 or e-mail info@ncholidayflotilla.org.

Holiday Concerts
Kenan Auditorium
December 6th-7th and 16th
‘Tis the season to be jolly and enjoy the sounds that come along with it. On December 6th at 8pm and December 7th at 4pm, the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, featuring Wilmington Symphony Select, Conductor Dr. Steven Errante, and Cape Fear Chorale Director Jerry Cribbs, will hold two performances of Georg Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.”

As Handel’s best-known oratorio—a 55-piece composition first performed in Dublin in 1742—was originally intended to include a small orchestra of accomplished musicians, it will be recreated by the Wilmington Symphony Select (chamber orchestra of Wilmington Symphony Orchestra musicians selected through special auditions). New to the performance will be the Cape Fear Chorale’s inclusion.

“This is the first time we’ve collaborated with the Cape Fear Chorale in performances of Handel’s ‘Messiah,’” Dr. Steven Errante, 22-year veteran conductor of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, says, “and from ‘Comfort Ye, My People’ to the mighty ‘Amen’ chorus, it promises to be a great start to the holiday season.”

The music will reflect dramatic silences, a bevy of contrasts in mood, melodies of rich movement and range, all heightened by the orchestra, chorus and soloists. The end result will incite cold chills in the monumental “Hallelujah”!

Tickets are $20-$22 and can be purchased by calling Kenan Auditorium at (910) 962-3500, toll free at 1-800-732-3643.

If the North Carolina Symphony’s annual Holiday Pops concert has become a part of the holiday ritual, then mark the calendar for December 16th, when it comes to Kenan. Joining them will be soprano Tina Morris-Anderson in a program of festive music. The concert will celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, featuring rich gospel works such as “Mary Had a Baby” and “What a Mighty God.” And, like always, their will be an audience sing-along sure to induce the spirit of the season.

Led by Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and featuring Assistant Conductor Joan Landry, the joyful music will be heard throughout Kenan Auditorium, where tickets and information are available by calling the box office: (910) 962-3500 or (800) 732-3643.

POPLAR GROVE’S CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE
Poplar Grove Plantation
December 7th, 12th, 13th and 14th
It has become as much of a tradition in Wilmington as their annual Halloween throwdown. During the season of everything red, gold and green, Historic Poplar Grove Plantation transforms their grounds and their historic 1850 manor house into something of awe. The annual Christmas Open House is a free, self-guided tour, offering craft demonstrations, a holiday craft show, pony and hay rides and, of course, Christmas music. And not to be left out: Mr. and Mrs. Claus will be on hand to answer to many kids’ (young and old) lists.

Folks can plan on touring the event on December 7th, 12th, 13th and 14th, 5-8pm. Nighttime winter hayrides will run along the lighted trail, and there will be a $5 fee for pony and/or hay rides (proceeds benefit the plantation). For more information, call 910-686-9518, extension 26, or surf www.poplargrove.com.