Christmas in Ida began 41 years ago
IDA — One of Monroe County’s most popular and enduring traditions for nearly a half century has been the Christmas in Ida Festival. This year’s celebration was Dec. 1-3, and it began a slate of holiday events that take place throughout Monroe’s South County area.
According to the Christmas in Ida Festival website, the festival was founded in 1982 by the Ida Civic Club — which was itself founded in 1944 — and sponsored by local area service organizations and businesses. The goal is “… to share the holiday cheer from small-town America.”
The event originally featured a small craft show, children’s lunch with Santa and a three-unit parade. The Christmas in Ida Festival has become so popular that it is now a family tradition and Midwest destination, with over 52,000 visitors attending the weekend event annually. Today, the festival has expanded to include Monroe County’s largest indoor craft show — located at the Ida Public Schools and Prince of Peace Lutheran Church Hall — and in heated tents in the downtown district. Over 150 craft enthusiasts and vendors offer many gift ideas for the season.
Other Christmas in Ida Festival events include Santa’s Zoo, Children’s Lunch with Santa, ice sculpting, chainsaw art, ice skating, national and international music entertainment, fireworks, activities at the Ida Library and other fun events that extend into the holiday season.
Originally hosting both a daytime and a nighttime “Parade of Lights," the Christmas in Ida Festival has, for the past 15 years, focused on the popular Parade of Lights which has featured the agricultural community and was highlighted with parade entries from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin and Canada. Today, the Parade of Lights features over 135 parade units sparkling with thousands of lights (fire trucks, floats, parade balloons, cartoon characters, etc.). Bands and marching groups join lighted farm implements which entertain an estimated 48,000 yearly parade visitors and countless more who view the telecast on cable television and world-wide-web by local TV provider MPACT.
Additionally, the Christmas in Ida Concert Series has presented both traditional and contemporary holiday music. Past participants have included country music legends Diamond Rio, Tracy Byrd, Collin Raye, Little Texas, Restless Heart, Blackhawk, Keith Anderson and others. The Radio Disney National Tour, Drew Seeley, Everlife, Jump 5, Joey Page, Savvy and Mandy, New Hollow, and Macy Kate have also been featured and performed at the heated outdoor Christmas in Ida Theater Center.
Regional and international entertainment at the Christmas in Ida Festival has included the Boychoir of Ann Arbor, Mosaic Youth Singers of the Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit, Saline Fiddlers, Michigan Opera Theater Children’s Chorus, Michigan State University Accafellas, University of Michigan G-Men, Adrian College Choir, Siena Heights University Chamber Singers, Eastern Michigan University Choir and Wayco from South America and local dance and music groups.
Other popular events include the Holiday Hounds on Parade, the Light Up the Night Fun Run, Children’s Story Time with Mrs. Claus, Holiday Art on the Avenue, Children’s Make & Take Art and the Holiday Sled Race. Fine foods are available throughout Ida’s downtown district by food vendors serving American, German, Italian, Mexican, Cajun and Polish food supplemented by local organizations serving sandwiches and meals.
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Another related and worthwhile event launched during the Christmas in Ida Festival is the Community Food Pantry Drive. The West Ida Immanuel Lutheran Church accepts non-perishable, non-breakable food items for their Community Food Pantry. Collection containers are located at the Ida High School Craft Show entrance during the craft show hours and in other area locations thereafter during the Christmas holiday season.
— Tom Adamich is president of Visiting Librarian Service, a firm he has operated since 1993. He also is project archivist for the Greening Nursery Co. and Family Archives and the electric vehicle awareness coordinator at Monroe County Community College.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Christmas in Ida began 41 years ago
