8th Annual FrostFest Celebration
FrostFest 2008, December 5-7, is just around the corner and loaded with events and activities for you and your family.
Start your weekend on Friday with a trip downtown to the Chestnut Street District for an evening of free fun for the whole family. Begin at the Ellis County Historical Society Museum with a horse-drawn hayride, music, and children’s arts and crafts. Then head out to Historic Fort Hays to experience Christmas Past. This free event allows you to discover how soldiers and civilians who lived at the Fort spent their Christmas holiday. Father Christmas will be present along with activities and goodies for the children. Come see the Fort decorated for Christmas as it would have been in the 1860’s.
On Saturday, bring the kids to have breakfast and read a story with Santa at the Hays Public Library (pre-registration required) and then take in a winter concert performed by the Western Kansas String Academy at Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center. Make plans to spend the afternoon shopping downtown for those special people on your holiday list and round up your tickets for the Downtown Dollars drawing. Be sure you pre-order your tickets for the Saturday evening performance of The FHSU Madrigal Feaste, a Yuletide Season Celebration hosted in a 16th century English castle setting. Enjoy stunning costumes, pageantry, music and generous amounts of food and drink! Then, get your rest cause on Sunday you’ll busy!
Sunday afternoon gets started with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Christmas for Kids Telethon. Come down to James Motor Company and view the local talent or watch it live on ECTV. There will also be cookie decorating, visits with Santa, gingerbread house making, and live music concerts at the Hays Public Library. Ballet Wichita will be performing The Nutcracker at Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center. Then grab your blankets, hats and mittens and join us on Main Street for refreshments from area businesses, the Downtown Dollars giveaway and the 8th annual FrostFest illuminated parade! This year’s theme is Winter Wonderland. Be sure to watch for Santa at the end of the parade and look for the 2009 FrostFest parade theme, which will be available to view on the back of Santa’s truck!
A complete schedule of FrostFest activities is available online at ChestnutStreetDistrict.com. We hope you enjoy your FrostFest weekend. Be sure to thank all the folks who host these events and activities for you and your family. A special thanks goes out to Nex-Tech and Nex-Tech Wireless for sponsoring the FrostFest Illuminated Parade and to the following sponsors for helping us spread the word about all the activities we have scheduled: APAC-Kansas, Inc., B&L Motels, Downtown Hays Development Corporation, Eagle Communications, Jeter Law Firm, Liberty Group, Inc., Midwest Energy, Sunflower Bank, and The Hays Daily News. Happy Holidays!