Ice, you might have canceled dozens of events in town and rescheduled the rest, but we are not going to let you win. Help-Portrait is hard at work finding another date and Andrew W.K. already rocked Hailey's on Tuesday after missing his Saturday show. You won't spoil all of our holiday fun! One of our favorite holiday traditions, the Holiday Lighting and Wassail Fest has been rescheduled to this Friday evening. This year will be a little more scaled down thanks to the ice and a re-schedule, but we don't mind. You'll find us circled 'round the tree like the Whos down in Whoville, holding hands and singing with joy. We're not sure who the Grinch is in this situation, though.
So if you plan on coming out to sample the wassail and find the joy of the holiday in your cold, black heart, here are our tips and tricks to making sure you get to squeeze as much holiday cheer out of the event as possible.
NICE:
There will be 33 wassail stops along the way, so plenty of a-wassailing may be had on Friday. The ballot box for voting (because there will be a wassail winner at the end of the night) will be located at the corner of Hickory and Elm. Some places have boozey wassail (we believe La Di Da normally does), so keep your eye out for that, and have your ID on hand, ready to go!
There will be a holiday lighting toy drive! Bring an unwrapped new gift to the corner of Locust side of the courthouse and hand it over to the people loading up the Little Guys Movers truck. These gifts are going to kids who may not other wise have anything under the tree on Christmas morning.
Did you know that there are commemorative ornaments for sale each year?! You can buy them online, or pick up a few at the information table on the lawn. We've heard there are also a few for sale at some shops on the square like Garden Gate.
The Courthouse Museum will be open until 8:00pm - and the courthouse is beautifully decorated for the season. So if you have a chance (or need a restroom after some of that wassail) peek in and see how great the inside of the courthouse looks all dressed up.
This is most of Denton's favorite holiday event of the year, even the re-scheduled and scaled down version. So get ready to roam the square and soak in all of the holiday cheer at it's finest!
NAUGHTY:
Parking on this particular night can often be a beast. We recommend parking on the outskirts of the square, or even a few blocks away at The DIME Store or north by Amitea. Both of which will be serving up hot wassail and The DIME Store will be giving away some fun holiday coasters.
The sidewalks themselves tend to get a little crowded. Watch out for kiddos underfoot and don't worry if you get bumped a little - just be careful! We're all drinking hot drinks out there and some people may be carrying swords or other sharp objects that they've purchased from the mini mall!
Feel free to skip the line for wassail at J and J's. Get some delicious pizza, sure, but there's better wassail to be had.
Kettle corn, y'all. We're drooling right now just thinking about it. (UPDATE: Looks as if the kettle corn people [and most vendors] will not be present on the rescheduled date. Bummer.)
The lines at bars and coffee shops can get a little out of control. We have a feeling that the wait at LSA will jump from 15 minutes to much longer, so be prepared. After all, wassail and kettle corn don't make a well-balanced meal. (UPDATE: Once again, looks like there won't be any kettle corn. The holidays are now officially ruined. Thanks a lot, ice storm. Jerk.)