Taylors Falls Lighting Festival

From Taylors Falls Lighting Festival Website:

About the Lighting Festival

The Lighting Festival in Taylors Falls, Minnesota began in 1985. The quaintness of the downtown, nestled between the Dalles of the scenic St. Croix River and a wooded hill, gives it a Christmas card quality, and just the right size for a winter festival. It is held each Thanksgiving weekend when families are home for the beginning of the holiday season. The official opening is the Friday, 6 PM grand lighting of main street and Santa Parade including floats, animals, Arnold the large walking puppet, school children, music and more, and Santa arriving in the last unit of the 25 minute parade. The Royal Lady of the Village is announced at the parade.

Stores and restaurants are open, holiday booya served, Santa greets the children at Santaland and there are special activities for the children of face painting, balloon animal making, free tractor drawn wagon rides for caroling and more. Families from near and far have made this weekend festival part of their holiday tradition.

The Friday, Saturday and Sunday Festival includes three different craft fairs, Christmas at the 1855 Folsom House Museum, a private historic home, several different displays, a performance of A Christmas Quilt by Marilyn Mays and Jim Walker who stitch together holiday stories and poems for the entire family, an ecumenical Choral Vesper Service, family Bingo, a winter concert by the St. Croix Valley Orchestra and more.

Each year the Lighting Festival produces an ornament around the festival theme. This year's ornament features a tinted black and white photo* of the historic 1902 Northern Pacific depot that served Taylors Falls until the RR line closed in 1948.

The depot was remodeled into a community center with broad support by the town. The Taylors Falls Memorial Community Center was dedicated in 1953 and honors five local men killed during World War II and buried overseas. The Taylors Falls Womens Civic League helped furnish and maintain the depot by selling 51 years of their very popular Taylors Falls Birthday Calendars. Join us in celebrating this fine building that means so much to Taylors Falls. The theme this year? ALL ABOARD!