Since the towns incorporation in 1996, Nolensville has hosted a Christmas tree lighting that brings the town together to kick off the season of joy. Years ago it started out at the Town Library with just a handful of residents, but as the town continued to grow, so have the crowds. Several years ago Nolensville constructed their first Town Hall building, keeping in mind the continued tradition of the town Christmas Tree lighting. With the growing number of people, children and expectations, the town Mayor, Jimmy Alexander, turned to Mint Springs Farm and Snyder Entertainment to help. Mayor Alexander wanted to not only host the annual Christmas tree lighting, but he also wanted to give the community a full on Christmas production, larger than years before.
As we began planning for this event in October, we were excited to add the incredibly talented team at Mint Springs Farm to our annual production. The team at Mint Springs was able to create incredible holiday scenes centering around some of the best holiday stories and traditions. So The North Pole Experience was born! They designed, constructed and provided all of the decor for the entire event, and also created all of the signs and picture stops by hand. The idea was that upon entering the tent, you would be met by a large arts and crafts table with kids, parents, and volunteers making Christmas ornaments. The Mint Springs team donated all of the crafts for the Christmas ornaments, and our friends at Town Hall provided volunteers to help out, including some volunteers from the Nolensville Running Club. With all of the help from our volunteers, and our very crafty kids, we went through 500 craft kits!
Continuing on, the next portion of the North Pole Experience was like walking through a full Gingerbread Village. The Gingerbread village was decorated with ice colored lighting, snow flakes filled the ceilings, and of course Gingerbread men and women were all around; this setting made for an incredible photo backdrop. Our team provided onsite photography and printing for the event, and feel free to download any of the photos here.
The Gingerbread Village would then lead you through a dream-like Christmas hallway where visions of sugar plumbs danced in your head, and from then you had officially arrived at the North Pole! Since this is where Santa lives, it's only obvious that this is where the live music was featured. The live music was provided by Snyder Entertainment’s Steven Clawson. Steven is on iTunes, which makes it easy to enjoy his Christmas tune here over the holidays.
Steven Clawson
The North Pole was home to many elves working on toys, and a playground to many other elves who were having a snowball fight. Santa's sleigh full of toys and reindeer all made an appearance, along with the most famous reindeer of them all, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (I know you're still singing the rest of the song in your head...) The very last stop was also where the big man himself (Santa!) was, ready to take pictures in our Snyder Entertainment snow globe photo booth, and hear what everyone's wishes for Christmas! Check out our Facebook photo album here to see even more pictures, LIKE our page and TAG/SHARE the photos!
We also had the Sunset Middle School choir singing Christmas carols at the front of the Town Hall, led by Abby Francis. Prior to the Christmas tree lighting, Mayor Alexander came out to the balcony to read "The Night Before Christmas" to everyone in attendance. There were roughly 1,000 people in attendance this year, more than the nearly 750 from last year. When Mayor Alexander concluded the story, Santa joined him high atop of the building, and they started the countdown, "3-2-1, Merry Christmas Nolensville!" as the lights on the tree lit up the front of Town Hall.
2015 proved to be another incredible year of Christmas tradition, and one that certainly couldn't of happened without the help and support from our local vendors. Another addition to our event this year was food. Our partners from Amico’s Pizza, selling a hot slice of cheese pizza for $2 which benefited the Nolensville Food Pantry. As well as 2 Girls ’N A Hot Dog serving gourmet hot dogs. Mamas Java was also onsite to provide hot chocolate and cookies for a snack. Aside from food, we had some other awesome local vendors there in support; the ladies from Peacock Lane Boutique selling their long sleeve 'Tis the Season in Nolensville t-shirts, which each purchase also benefited the Nolensville Food Pantry. Again, Mint Springs Farm was responsible for all of the wonderfully crafted decor, props, and signs. Our team here at Snyder Entertainment provided live music, 50 décor lighting fixtures, 8 gobo/monogram lighting fixtures, live music, photography and photo booth. And last, but certainly not least, to our partners who helped make this financially possible: Nolensville Toy Shop, Three French Hens, Nana's Diner, and Nolensville Auto Care.
Mayor Alexander, Santa Claus, and Ms. Janice Green.
We are anticipating another great year of the Nolensville Christmas Tree lighting in 2016, and finding out how we can get even more interactive! Another huge thanks to Mayor Alexander, our local vendors and shops, volunteers, the staff at Town Hall, the team at Mint Springs Farm, Steven Clawson, and everyone who came out in attendance. Merry Christmas!
Written by: J McGee