By Mary Jo Coulehan | Pagosa Springs Area Chamber of Commerce
As the Christmas holiday draws nearer and visitors get ready to descend upon Pagosa Springs to enjoy their holiday and vacation time, businesses are gearing up to accommodate the skiers, family gatherings and just us locals getting out to enjoy our community. There are still plenty of activities to keep us busy these next couple of weeks.
The Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration will be held on Saturday, Dec. 18, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The walk along the Riverwalk will give participants the opportunity to enjoy displays, giveaways, and food and beverages all along the tour.
Enjoy the walkway lighted by luminarias, live music at many of the participant booths, food, hot drinks, toys, games and much more. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather the family and enjoy this free event along one of Pagosa’s most enjoyable areas in town.
Santa Claus will be down at the Visitor Center at his workshop, where the Chamber will be manning the fort with hot chocolate and cookies. Come visit us. People will be able to come onto the Riverwalk through a variety of entrances including from the pedestrian bridge at Hot Springs Boulevard, Town Park or near The Springs Resort. Bundle up, as we recover from hopefully more snow, and bring the children downtown to enjoy a walk and various activities throughout the tour. Several downtown businesses will also be staying open late on Dec. 18 to accommodate some of the shoppers. Enjoy discounts and later shopping hours at our local stores.
Let’s support our businesses as they make accommodations to increase shopping availability to the public.
Holiday Lighting Tour
If you haven’t had a chance to get out and see the various entries for the Holiday Lighting Tour, you still have time. The contest garnered about 15 businesses and 15 residential homes to make up the tour. What is fun about this tour is that you get to cast your vote for your favorite entries so that residents can win a cash prize of $1,000, $500 or $250, or the equivalent in advertising dollars from The Pagosa Springs SUN for our businesses.
You can cast your vote at https://bit.ly/3kP2TUN or you can download the app from www.visitpagosasprings.com. Once downloaded, click on the Tours tab and then the Holiday Lighting Tour. There is a simple icon “Vote Here” that you can click on and cast your vote while you are on the tour.
While the lights will be up until Dec. 31, the deadline to vote is Sunday, Dec. 19. This is another free event to gather the family or a group of friends and tour our beautiful community as we are lit up for the holidays. Many people went to a lot of effort to decorate their homes and businesses. Let’s celebrate their efforts.
The winners will be announced in the Dec. 23 edition of The SUN. Thank you to all who made this tour a beautiful addition to our community.
