While there are a number of options for activities and entertainment during the Thanksgiving weekend in this town, one stands out as a little more unique.
Many years ago, the LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts created a Holiday Show as one of their annual fundraising events. The first year it was offered, it was so popular the gallery added it as a permanent event on their calendar.
The Holiday Show invites artists from Tallahassee and the greater Big Bend area to submit their ideas for creative Holiday ornaments and also orders some from the wholesale retail markets. When the ornaments arrive, the whole gallery is turned into a winter wonderland with a different decorative theme each year.
They fill the different rooms with ornament-covered trees, stuffing items into every available corner of space – you can hardly walk!
Now you may be thinking what is so different about this? First, they run the show from Black Friday through New Year’s Eve. Second, and most important for this discussion, they hold a special opening of the show on Thanksgiving Day – from 6-8 pm.
This show is designed to provide members (you can take your guests) with an opportunity to check out the merchandise before it is opened to the public the next day. If you can’t get your guests to the gallery on Thanksgiving, the show will be open the next day thru New Year’s Eve. It is amazing how popular this show has become!
In recent years, LeMoyne decided it would be wise to alter the show just a bit and include affordable art for sale to give shoppers additional options for gift purchases while furthering the Center’s goal of “creating community through art.”
For those guests who aren’t into shopping, there is a lovely Christmas lights show in the sculpture gardens behind the building. If the weather is cold, you’ll find some warm beverages to sip while enjoying the lights and scenery.
Memberships and entry fees are very reasonable and you can even join LeMoyne online!
I hope you see you there and Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!