Christmas Committee Named State Semi-Finalist for Premier Partner
The Downtown Excelsior Partnership, Inc. nominated the Christmas Committee for the 2020 Missouri Main Street Connection Evening of Excellence Awards for the Premier Partner Award in the State of Missouri and they have been named as a semifinalist! As a reminder, we will be hosting a watch party at Dubious Claims Brewing Co. and on our Downtown Excelsior Springs, Missouri Facebook page tomorrow, July 30th AT 7:00 PM to see if any of our semifinalist are named winners! Tune in with us!
Here is the nomination that was submitted to celebrate their accomplishments … check it out!
The Downtown Excelsior Partnership, Inc. is nominating this committee for this award because this group of individuals works extremely hard to ensure that the Christmas Season is a magical one here in Downtown Excelsior Springs.
This group of individuals puts in over 2,000 volunteer hours a year to spread the Christmas cheer through our town. Within a period of about 5 weeks, this crew is responsible for hosting 10 different events. A majority of which take place on the official Christmas Kick Off day each year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.
Those events include a Mistletoe Market, that brings vendors together for Christmas shopping and compliments are Downtown Holiday Open Houses. An Elf Factory that allows for children of all ages to complete Christmas crafts to give to parents and grandparents as gifts. A beautiful choir performance of Christmas Carols from our elementary students. The official Mayor’s Christmas Tree Lighting that takes places in coordination with our Downtown Lighting Ceremony and precedes the beloved Lighted Christmas Parade. They host a beautiful Hall of Trees where businesses participate by beautifully decorating Christmas trees. They host a Holiday Homes Tours to give tour goers holiday décor inspiration. They partner with DEP to host Santa’s Polar Express and offer free pictures with Santa and trolley rides through the lights. They have a Taste of Christmas with participating locations sampling decadent Christmas treats. And their largest event is the Lane of Lights that sets through Lover’s Lane in Downtown Excelsior Springs. The Lane of Lights is a true gem supplied by this committee. It always for various groups throughout the community to host a night at the lane in exchange for 50% of the night’s donations and raises nearly $20,000 for the committee and the partner hosting groups.
Through their commitment to making our downtown a special place through the holidays we are able to see significant increases in holiday spending in our downtown! Each year the Lighted Christmas Parade brings over 3,000 people to the streets of downtown to experience the magic. Another 5,000 vehicles come through the lane with approximately 15,000 individuals driving through the beautiful lighted displays. And each year, they take their profits to reinvest in growing the Lane of Lights to make it an even larger attraction to our community.
Not only do the take on the responsibility of making Downtown Excelsior Springs magically, they also install Christmas lighting throughout the pole mounts of the entire town.
This group of individuals is deeply committed to being what same may call a little “Christmas Crazy”. You could reach out to any one of them today and they would be able to give you the exact amount of days left until Christmas 2020, but we would not want to have it any other way.
In 2019 the Excelsior Springs Christmas Committee joined under the DEP umbrella and we have been so extremely fortunate to have these committed volunteers on our team and couldn’t imagine what our holiday season would look like in Downtown Excelsior Springs if it was not for their dedicated commitment to bringing smiles to the faces of all during the Christmas season. We look forward to continuing our partnership with them to continue growing our Christmas cheer and season.
