If you haven’t been in town the last few days, you will be surprised… Christmas has arrived in Bindseil Park and around town. The lights are up, the garland is hung, the Christmas scenes are in place, the stage is ready for music in the park, and Santa and Mrs. Claus will be arriving soon. They will be making appearances in the courthouse, on the Square, and in Bindseil Park, but you never know where they might pop up. Look for the schedule in the calendar above or on the Blanco Chamber website, blancochamber.com.

The Christmas committee is working very hard on coordinating all the festivities for three weekends beginning on Friday, November 25, and concluding with the Christmas night parade on Saturday, December 10, which will be awesome. Following the parade, Uptown Blanco is hosting a street dance. Check the Blanco County News or the Chamber website for details or any additional events to be held during Christmas. For more information about entering in the parade, call Roxie Avants, who is in charge of parade, at 512-627-0584 for instructions. The lights and decorations will remain through January 2, 2012.

Keep Blanco Beautiful has worked very hard these last two months to decorate and get ready for our Hill Country Trail of Lights tour. Most of all, we want our townspeople to be proud of our Christmas lights and decorations.

Our committee is so small and we could not have achieved this look without all the help we received. Two groups I want to recognize are the FCCLA high school class and the Lions Club group of Leos. These groups of young people worked really hard. Of course, without PEC hanging the lights in the tops of trees and the lighted stars, etc. on poles and our city workers helping some, we could not achieve that look. Without the Blanco Chamber assisting in furnishing the electrician to make more electricity sources available, we would not have been able to light all our beautiful scenes and lights in the park. We were able to take the lights further in the park and create our winter wonderland. Bindseil Park is such a beautiful park and to keep adding to this Christmas beauty is magical.

Be sure to visit downtown and take a walk through the beautiful lights and scenes. We will continue to add to the scenes with the help of our merchants and businesses around town, plus individuals. You will see their names on them, so be sure to thank them for participating and encourage others for next year. You can have your name, or a name in honor or memory of a loved one, on a Christmas scene. People will be driving around town, not just on the Square, so you are also important as individuals by decorating your business or residence. Be sure and thank Retta Martin for overseeing this big task as she is down at the park every day checking on things and will be all through Christmas making sure the lights all stay on.

It is amazing that through this drought Keep Blanco Beautiful has managed to keep some flowers blooming, thanks to the efforts of our leader, Judy Dorsett, and a handful of dedicated workers of this group. We are trying to get some pansies and other bloomers planted. Just remember that we can use you on Tuesdays at 9:00am or just about any day right now until the 25th because we are trying to get everything in place to light up Blanco on Friday, November 25, at 6:00pm. If you would like to volunteer, call Judy at 830-833-5663 or Retta at 833-1972.