Good cheer spread throughout Mancos Friday night for the first installment of “Ye Olde Fashioned Christmas.”
Festively dressed locals wandered from gallery to gallery to view artwork on display, with treats and cider in hand. Carolers from the Mancos Valley Chorus serenaded the crowd gathered at the base of a towering fir across Mesa Street from the Painted Turtle Studio and Gallery.
And at 6 p.m., Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived in style on a Mancos firetruck to ceremonially light the tree before setting up shop in the Mancos Community Center to greet a long line of children and discuss Christmas wishes.
The second day of the “Ye Olde Fashioned Christmas” celebration is Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will include a gallery walk, a winter holiday pop-up market, music at the Raven House Gallery, chili tastings at downtown galleries, a Christmas scavenger hunt and an ugly sweater contest at Fenceline Cider.
The celebration is sponsored by the Mancos Creative District, town of Mancos, Mancos Valley Chamber of Commerce, Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary No. 5231, and participating downtown businesses.