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Sumter Poinsettia Festival offers a variety of holiday events

  • Published
  • By Susan Wild
  • City of Sumter
SUMTER, S.C. --  Dec. 1-17 celebrates the season with a variety of holiday-themed events throughout the community. The upcoming holiday season is known as the time approaches as Sumter's annual Poinsettia Festival.

The festivities begin with the opening of the Fantasy of Lights on Dec. 1, hosted by the City of Sumter and the Sumter Pilot Club. For the entire month of December, the gardens come alive nightly with a display of twinkling holiday imagery created by more than one million lights. Santa arrives in grand style on Dec. 3, and on Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 17, visitors will have a chance to enjoy refreshments and live entertainment at Santa's Village from 6 to 8 p.m.

Many other exciting holiday programs will take place throughout the Sumter community, with some of the highlights including:

· The annual lighting ceremony for Sumter County's community Christmas Tree at the Sumter County Courthouse, followed by "A Walk with St. Nick" (December 2);
· "The Nutcracker," performed by the Columbia City Ballet (Patriot Hall, December 3);
· Breakfast with Santa at the Sumter County Recreation Department (December 3);
· The Holiday House Tour, hosted by the Sumter Council of Garden Clubs (various locations, December 3);
· The Evening Optimist Club's annual Christmas Parade (Main Street, December 4);
· Morris College Chorale Christmas Concert presents a celebration in song free to the public (Neal-Jones Auditorium, December 4).
· A FUN! Contemporary Tale of the Nutcracker featuring the Columbia City Jazz Dance Co. (Sumter Opera House, December 10).
· Shaw-Sumter Community Concert Band's holiday concert (December 16)

And the events just keep on coming! Area churches will also celebrate the holidays with themed plays and live nativities, and the Sumter County Museum will host their annual "Carolina Backcountry Christmas" on Dec. 10.

The Poinsettia Festival is named in honor of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first US Ambassador to Mexico and an avid botanist who is interred at the historic Church of the Holy Cross in Stateburg.

A printable brochure featuring a detailed listing of events is available online at www.sumtersc.gov. For more information, please call the Swan Lake Visitors Center at (803) 436-2640 or 1-800-688-4748.