Willis Park will be transformed into a winter wonderland Thursday evening as Bainbridge hosts the Yuletide Jubilee.
The new event is a combination of the previous Christmas on the River and Christmas on the Square events hosted by the city.
“We’ve never had a big downtown Christmas festival, and I think this is a good step,” said Amanda Glover, executive director of the Downtown Development Authority.
Downtown merchants and restaurants will have “Santa’s workshop” activities for kids throughout the evening including face painting, side walk chalk, cookie decorating and ornament crafts.
The festivities kick off at 5 p.m., and Bainbridge Mayor Edward Reynolds will light the tree on the square around 7 p.m. before Santa arrives.
All four streets surrounding the square will be closed from about 4:30 p.m. until the event ends. Water Street will be closed from Crawford Street to Clay Street to allow merchants not directly on the square to participate.
There will not be a hayride at the event, Glover said, so there is not the need to close more streets and there is better access to public parking.
“Morningside Baptist Church, in conjunction with the Yuletide Jubilee, is having their Follow the Star 5k and one-mile fun run,” Glover said.
Registration for the runs begins at 4:45 p.m.
The Bainbridge High School Bella Canta, Friendship House of Jesus Choir and First Presbyterian Church Choir Ensemble will be among the musical performances along with multiple soloists throughout the night.
The Decatur County Historical & Genealogy Society Museum will have 2014 Mary Barber Cox Christmas ornaments available for purchase Thursday evening.
Bainbridge Little Theatre actors will also be present, milling around the crowd in costumes as they promote their upcoming production of “A Dickens Christmas Carol: A Traveling Travesty in Two Tumultuous Actsl,” which opens Friday night.
“We’re just excited. We’ll learn from mistakes, and see how to improve next year and expand,” Glover said. “We’ll see where we can go from here with it. We’re completely open to ideas.”