By Staff
Parade coincides with Farm-City Festival
By DAN PARSONS
Staff Writer
On Friday the Town of Plymouth will leapfrog the Thanksgiving holiday to ring in the Christmas spirit with its annual tree-lighting ceremony and holiday festivities throughout the downtown on the Roanoke River.
On the following Saturday, Washington County joins others around the nation to celebrate the vital connection between farmers, who grow food and other raw materials, and their city counterparts, who process, transport and make those products available to the community. The event will begin with a parade down Water Street in Plymouth at 11 a.m.
The parade is part of the two-day celebration of Christmas on the Roanoke, an annual event including the lighting of a Christmas tree Friday night in Mini Park on Water Street in Plymouth. Following the tree lighting will be a Riverwalk chronicling the Christmas story with live actors and animals.
Christmas on the Roanoke, a two-day event, will take place on the banks of the Roanoke River in Plymouth beginning Friday. That evening’s events will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the “Lighting of the Park” and “Riverwalk.”
Festivities on Saturday will open at 10 a.m., followed by a Christmas parade at 11 a.m. through downtown Plymouth. Admission is free for both events.
The parade route down Water Street will march visitors through the heart of another event next to the Port O’ Plymouth Museum. The 35th annual Farm-City Festival will once again celebrate the harvest and highlight the farming lifestyle’s relationship with Main Street, USA. Activities will include arts and crafts vendors, performances by local musicians and a petting zoo with pony rides.
The Town of Plymouth decided to incorporate its Christmas celebrations with the festival a number of years ago, a “cross pollination” that Roth said has been “very successful.”
The Farm-City Festival is organized by the Washington County Cooperative Extension office, an agricultural partnership between the county and North Carolina State University.