Dateline: December 4, 2003

City abuzz with holiday cheer and activities

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The Christmas Spirit is taking hold as Clarendon gets ready for holiday festivities starting downtown this week.

The Girl Scouts will open the season with their annual lighting ceremony at the Lions Hall this Thursday at 6 p.m., which is followed by the start of Late Night Shopping at several local merchants.

The Girl Scouts will be caroling up and down Kearney Street and will have an Open House at their office building with cookies and hot chocolate. They will also be accepting donations of canned goods to go in the Christmas Baskets for the needy that the Lions Club will distribute later this month.

The Chamber of Commerce office will be open, and refreshments will be available.

A wagon and team will be available to give free rides to anyone who wants them. Several local businesses have joined forces to provide this service.

Local Cub Scouts will have a bake sale set up at the Burton Memorial Library.

The kids can visit Santa Claus at the library and have their picture, taken with the jolly old elf for a small fee.

The Clarendon College Chorale has scheduled its Fall Choir Concert for 7:00 p.m. in the Harned Sisters Fine Arts Center.  Admission is free.

The holiday activities continue this weekend with the lighting of the Nativity scene at the Howardwick City Park on Saturday at, which is dusk followed by refreshments and singing in the Howardwick City Hall.

The Saints’ Roost Museum Christmas Party starts at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday in the Clarendon Community Center. Tickets are $50 per couple for beverages, dinner, and dancing and are available in limited numbers from Henson’s. Each ticket has the chance to win $5,000.

Clarendon College will host the West Texas A&M University Opera Workshop performance of “Amahl & The Night Visitors” by Gian Carlo Menotti on Sunday in the Harned Sisters Fine Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free.

This one-act opera is a touching Christmas story about the journey of the Three Kings to see the newborn Christ-child.  Along the way, they stop to rest at the home of a poor widow and her crippled son, Amahl.  Through his selfless act on this holiest of nights, a miraculous gift is given to Amahl. 

The cast includes Landree Woodward of Spearman; Benjamin Oheim of Amarillo; Brian Kuhnert, instructor of music at Clarendon College (WT alum); Justin Loe of Canyon; Michael McBride of Amarillo; and Robert Cardwell of Laredo. Piano accompaniment will be provided by Rolando Salazar from Beeville.

Everyone is welcome at the opera performance. Donations will be accepted. 

Citizens of all ages are encouraged to participate in these local events, and homeowners are urged to decorate since the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce and the Howardwick Beautification Club will judging holiday decorations this year.