- Video shows local community members detailing the festivities that will happen during "Hometown Christmas."
- Hometown Christmas activities begin at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 2. There will be lots of activities, including a Christmas parade through downtown and the official tree lighting.
- A window decorating contest brought together local businesses, the Chamber of Commerce and Tehachapi High School students.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It’s the holiday season in the mountains, and Tehachapi is preparing to celebrate. The second annual Hometown Christmas event is on Saturday, Dec. 2.
Audrey Apperson is a junior at Tehachapi High School.
“I’ve never been a part of something like this before, so it’s really exciting to kind of, like, get into Tehachapi’s community,” Apperson said.
Through the school’s art club, she was able to make her mark on the Christmas festivities by helping to create trophies for the Holiday Window Decorating Contest.
“I think they all turned out really well. I like seeing everyone else’s ideas," Apperson said. "I didn’t really watch other people make their own, but then it’s like, I finally saw all of them come together and it’s, wow, it turned out really nice and I’m really proud of us.”
Local businesses can show their creative side in the window decorating contest. Chamber of Commerce director Clare Scotti says every business involved in the contest will have a paper in their window with a QR code that people can scan and make their vote.
“And you can walk to all of them, so it makes for a wonderful little holiday stroll seeing all of these beautiful windows,” Scotti said.
Business owner Clifford Meridth said he didn’t know there was a contest going on when he hired local artist Lyn Bennett to decorate his windows. When one of his coworkers mentioned it, he called the Chamber of Commerce.
“We already had our plan of what we were gonna do, so we didn’t change anything," said Meridth. "So we didn’t know exactly what the rules were..but we’re in it…I like it. It’s exciting, it’s interesting…it adds another component to what we do.”
Another part of the festive fun is a vendor fair running along Green Street. Dawn Jones, owner of Dawn Jones Designs, makes handmade jewelry and photographs local scenes in town.
She says the comradery among vendors and brick and mortar stores is energizing.
“Everybody’s very supportive of each other here. It’s a small community and, you know, if one succeeds, we all succeed,” said Jones.
With such a variety of events, the City has the full details listed on their website.
“Logistically, to plan out your day, we have a full map of where all the vendors are going to be, and we have a different map of all of the participating brick and mortar businesses online," said Mya Acosta, Community Engagement Specialist. "Then we also have a full list of the days worth of events as well.”
For additional information and a full schedule of events, visit the City website.
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