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This Saturday, December 12th is the annual Town of Sneads Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting. Starting at 4 p.m., the parade can be viewed on Hwy 90 and will drive from Sneads Auto Parts to McDaniels Grocery.
After the parade, City Hall will be hosting the Town tree lighting. There will be an inflatable set-up appropriate for small kids, free hot dogs, chips, drinks, and hot chocolate! Please wear masks to keep everyone safe, and be sure to bring warm coats.
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Tomorrow is the opening of Lafayette Landing! Enjoy the unveiling of this new community space in downtown Marianna from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. this Thursday, December 10th. There will be a ribbon-cutting to start the event as well as live music, refreshments, and food trucks. Please wear masks for community safety!
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Jackson County Public Library is adapting to these trying times with online storytime. On Wednesdays at 10 a.m. on Facebook, Miss. Peggy will be hosting Storytime. The first December date is tomorrow, December 9th! Visit the Jackson Public Library’s Facebook upcoming events page HERE to participate, find more details, or decide on specific dates.
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For the 13th year, the Allison Christmas Spectacular is being held in Havana, FL! This year, there will be 3 mega trees, 12 mini trees, 14 leaping arches, hundreds of strobes, and an array of dancing light sequences that will play to a mix of 8 different songs.
There is no charge to come see the lights, and the display is a drive-by, so it is safe for all and kind to the wallet! It will be occurring nightly until New Year’s from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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Dothan Area Botanical Gardens is holding a special event for the holidays: Gardens Aglow! A weekend event during the month of December, Gardens Aglow bathes the familiar beauty of Dothan’s Botanical Gardens in the gentle glow of holiday lights. For only $8 per person (age 9 and above), this is a steal to wear out the kids, the pets, and even the unruly significant other! Held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Gardens Aglow by Dothan Botanical Gardens will be held on December 5th, 11th, 18th, and 19th. For more specific information, visit their Facebook event page specific to each date: HERE!
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The City of Marianna is having their annual Christmas Parade tomorrow, December 4th. The 2020 theme is “Christmas Everything,” and will be starting at 5:30 p.m. in downtown Marianna. All entries and viewers must follow the CDC Guidelines for social distancing; masks are encouraged for all. Proceeds from the parade are going towards Main Street projects and community events. The parade will start at Daniels Street, travel east on Lafayette Street, and end on North Madison Street. Hope to see you there!
on It’s officially December which means holidays are upon us! Consider visiting the 1st Annual Merry Market at Citizens Lodge Park in Marianna this weekend to start looking for gifts, get pictures, or just to entertain the kids for a few hours. The event is this coming Saturday, December 5, and will run for ONE DAY ONLY from 9 a.m. CST to 4 p.m. CST.
There will be a variety of things to do at the Merry Market including but not limited to: 
Visit the Merry Market Facebook event page HERE to keep up with vendor announcements and more!
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Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday! GivingTuesday was brought to life in 2012 with the idea of encouraging people to do good. In the past eight years, it has “grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.” source Now, GivingTuesday is an annual event held each year on the Tuesday after the U.S.A. Thanksgiving celebration. This year, it falls on December 1st! It’s held the same day for participating countries. Want to celebrate GivingTuesday? All it takes is kindness; you can give your voice, time, money, goods, and/or advocacy to support the communities, causes, and people in your life.
Visit the official Giving Tuesday website for more information HERE.
on Marianna’s A Wild Hair Boutique is a local clothing store known for its friendly service and styling expertise. They just completed a very successful Black Friday sale thanks to the support of the community, and have an annual holiday sale coming up. On December 4th from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., the boutique will host its annual Holly Jolly. It’s the best sale of the year, offering exclusive sales and deals.
Want to see some of the offered accessories, trendy clothes, or browse the holiday-specific wares? Click HERE to visit A Wild Hair Boutique’s official website.
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The United States of America, or at least the area that would become the U.S.A., first called for a national day of thanksgiving to celebrate victory over the British in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. However, it didn’t officially become a sanctioned holiday until 1863, thanks to the efforts of author Sarah Josepha Hale (you might know her from the poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb”).
Here’s a fascinating story you can share this year to wow people with the breadth of your knowledge!
In 1953, C.A. Swanson & Sons overestimated demand for Thanksgiving turkey and had over 260 TONS of extra frozen birds. In the end, an employee came up with the idea to order 5,000 aluminum trays, devise a new turkey meal, and use an assembly line of workers to put together the meal on the trays. And thus the first frozen TV tray dinner was created! It was such a hit that the next year, 1954, the company put the TV trays into production and sold 10 million turkey tray dinners. Nowadays, the global frozen food market size is valued at approximately $291.3 billion (as of 2019).