Main Street Statesboro’s annual Christmas downtown event, featuring Chili Town, is set for Friday, Dec. 1, from 5-8 p.m.
According to a release, the 2023 Vyve Holiday Celebration will include a golf cart parade, more than 50 vendors, the Book Bus, live music, Chili Town, a hayride and a photo booth with Santa Claus.
Admission to Chili Town is free and open to the public. Tickets will be available to purchase to vote in the people’s choice category for $1. All proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Humane Society of Statesboro and Bulloch County.
Also, on Dec. 1, the Averitt Center for the Arts feature a Celtic Christmas Concert with the Carroll Brown Band. The concert will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Emma Kelly Theater. Single tickets and family bundles are being sold on the Averitt Center’s website. Each ticket includes hot cocoa or coffee.
The Vyve Christmas Holiday Card contest winner ride with Santa Claus on the Old Fire Engine during the parade. The parade will feature golf carts, four wheelers, classic cars and Santa Claus.
Everyone is invited to enjoy the Mockingbird’s Turf free hayride in thge Synovus Bank parking lot on East Main St. In addition, there will be a build the gingerbread Tormenta FC Stadium contest near the hayride. Children are invited to stop by the Book Bus and receive a free book. Other fun activities, according to the release, include a Party Harbor bouncy and Boro the Hatchet Axe throwing. Georgia Southern BiG will host their monthly Fix It Friday’s in the alley at 62 East Main.
Vendors ranging from local artisans, food vendors and boutiques will line the sidewalks on East Main Street. All Fired Up will have their Winter Exhibition & Sale through 8 p.m. and again on Saturday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. They will sell handmade ceramics, fine arts and jewelry.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holiday season than with the community coming together and enjoying an evening of music, chili and shopping downtown,” said Allen Muldrew, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority.
Assisting the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority in staging First Friday events each month in in 2023 are sponsors: American Roofing CORE Credit Union, Georgia Power, Colony Bank, East Georgia Center for Oral and Facial Surgery, Coca-Cola, Statesboro Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Southern Chiropractic & Wellness Center, Tormenta FC, Party Impressions, McLendon Enterprises, Party Harbor, Morris Bank, Statesboro Properties, JC Lewis Ford, Statesboro Urgent Care, Georgia Southern BiG, Aspen Aerogels, and Vyve Broadband.
For more information, contact the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority at (912) 764-7227 or email mainstreet@statesborodowntown.com.