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Christmas in Fair Park scheduled
By Bill Hankins
The Paris News
Published November 28, 2009
It’s time again for Christmas in Fair Park, complete with Santa Claus, food, fun and shopping.
Lamar County Fairgrounds will be the site of Christmas in Fair Park this year from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
This is the 22nd year for the event, and more than 3,000 visitors and shoppers are expected to turn out.
Rita Haynes of the Red River Valley Fair Association said more than 100 spaces will be filled with vendors with offerings of every type.
“Vendors will be selling everything from jewelry to food to clothes and everything in between,” Haynes said.
Items to be offered at Christmas in Fair Park include metal art, glassware, baby clothes, decorator items, woodworking and many other craft items.
Also scheduled to take place Saturday is the Lamar County Pecan Show in the Westside Building.
Food items available are to include everything from barbecue to turkey legs, shrimp dinners and dozens of other items.
Christmas in Fair Park this year will fill three buildings and spill out onto the fairgrounds, a far different scenario than when it started 22 years ago.
“That first year, we had to work to fill half a building with vendors,” Haynes said. “I had to give away some of the spaces just to get vendors here, and the visitors numbered in the hundreds, not the thousands as they do today.”
The Coliseum, which once was used for contests and entertainment, now is filled with vendors and one familiar old face — Santa Claus, who visits with children, talks with them about their Christmas wishes and lists and poses for pictures with them.
Last year’s visitors numbered more than 3,000.
“It was the largest crowd we had ever had,” Tim Masters, fair director said. “The parking lot was full last year and running over. This year, because of the rainfall we have had and the damage to the parking areas, the parking will be different. We will have to park vehicles in several different areas.”
Boy Scouts of America will handle the parking directions for the big shopping day.
“Everything at the show is pretty much traditional, but there will be enough this year to shop for Christmas for the whole family,” Masters said.
When Christmas in Fair Park started 22 years ago, fair association personnel provided all the food items, baking cookies and bread and making sandwiches. They also served hot chocolate and apple cider.
Now, dozens of food vendors are involved in serving the public.
During the years, the activities have changed because of the growth of the show.
“We used to have a decorated Christmas tree contest, but because we have so many vendors, we don’t have room to do that anymore,” Haynes said.
This year the event will offer pony rides for youngsters, and a chain saw artist from Oklahoma will work his magic as the audience watches.
Bounce houses will be on site for the youngsters to entertain themselves.
Some of the more sought after items are home-made gourmet soup mixes, baby quilts and blankets and other hand-sewn items.
For those with a sweet tooth, there will be plenty of candy, divinity and pecan logs available.
Christmas in Fair Park will be a day of fun and excitement for the whole family, and it will be an opportunity for some to complete their Christmas shopping early.
“The gifts certainly would be unique,” Haynes said. “A person probably would never find the things offered by the vendors anywhere else.”
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