LAURINBURG — Another one of Santa’s workshops will be appearing downtown come September.
The non-profit organization that will turn downtown Laurinburg into a Christmas wonderland will be opening a storefront as another way to raise money for the event. ‘Tis the Season has taken over the old Bob’s Jewel Shop location on Main Street next to the old State Bank building.
When it opens the store will have everything from collectible elves to Christmas trees and lights.
“We’re going to be a specialty Christmas shop,” said Director Terry Parker. “We’re going to carry items that other shops don’t have.”
The shop was a recent idea added into the plan of ‘Tis the Season, which Co-Director Janice Creed said Parker probably always had in her head — which is true, as Parker had planned on opening up a shop with her daughter, who ended up moving to Texas with her husband, who’s in the military.
For many Christmas decorations, it’s too late in the season to purchase and get in time, but Parker had already put in an order for her hopeful shop, so instead of canceling the order, ‘Tis the Season took over.
Parker hopes the store goes over well enough that it can become an all-year shop in the future instead of the current idea for a pop-up shop.
“We’ve had such an incredible community feedback,” Parker said. “The ‘Tis the Season idea has just snowballed and keeps snowballing.”
The shop will be completely run by volunteers and will also feature a gift-wrapping service. The specialty wrapping is something not offered in many places anymore and the women think it will be a great thing to have.
“It will be great for anyone who works or are too busy to wrap presents,” Creed said. “You used to be able to bring gifts to Belk and have them wrap them, but now they just give you a box.”
While the store will be the first taste of Christmas in Laurinburg, residents will have to wait for November to really see the holiday spirit in downtown.
The first ‘Tis the Season event starts on Nov. 25, but the committees will begin decorating on Nov. 15 and will go until the 17 — during which time Parker and the rest of the board will be dressing up as elves during the decorating process.
“How many towns do you know that have people dressed up as elves decorating?” Parker asked. “If you were to drive by and saw 40 women dressed as elves putting up Christmas decorations, what would you do — probably slow down, maybe take a picture, but you’d smile and laugh, which is what we want.”
Besides Parker and Creed, there are two others who have helped head up the idea, Co-Director Carol Coughenour and board member at-large Cynthia Womble.
The group is working closely with the city to put on the event and are still asking for volunteers specifically to help with the skating rink, though there are 11 other committees to help create the vision.
Civic organizations can also partake by renting out a hut around the skating rink to sell hot chocolate or other items to fundraise.
“We’ve said it before but it can’t hurt to say again, we want to make Laurinburg a Christmas destination,” Parker said. “We also want to bring out positivity in the community and show good things are happening in Laurinburg.”
Anyone wanting to volunteer or make a tax-deductible donation can contact the group on Facebook at ‘Tis the Season, or call 910-280-1874, 910-280-5373 or 910-280-3710.
