Christmas in Ida Festival this weekend
The 20th anniversary Christmas in Ida festival begins Friday, Dec. 6 and runs through Sunday, Dec. 8.

The festival begins Friday night at an Ida High School dance for students, where the festival’s Prince and Princess will be crowned. The selection will be made from the following high school candidates representing organizations: Grace Stotz and Charlie Keesee, Student Council; Melanie Nowak and Dan Louks, Senior Executive Board; Pauline Molenda and Shane Hubbard, Junior Executive Board; Chelsea Mathis and Jason Hauska, Ida High School Band.

The big day is Saturday, which begins with a craft show and bake sale, featuring more than 100 crafters at Ida High School and about 30 crafters at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, at the corner of Lewis Avenue and Dunbar Road from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission is $1 with proceeds going to “Give a Kid a Christmas,” sponsored by Ida High School Student Council. Those who attend both venues of the craft show will receive punch cards and will be entered into a special prize drawing.

Refreshments also will be available at Prince of Peace, with homemade cinnamon rolls, barbecue beef sandwiches, hot dogs, homemade soup and more.

New this year, crafters and vendors also will be located downtown on Lewis Ave. in heated tents that will remain open throughout the evening parade hours. There will be a new or gently used stuffed animal, coat, hat and glove collection for children in need by the Country Acres 4-H Club.
In addition to craft sales, the Monroe County Firefighters Association will sell afghans and collect donations to purchase “thermal imaging cameras” for fire rescue throughout the county. Ida Civic Club will sell poinsettia plants and souvenirs, including commemorative 20th anniversary Christmas in Ida ornaments and Ida-opoly games at the high school.

parking lot where the Ida Township Volunteer Fire Department will secure a landing zone for Santa’s arrival by helicopter. Everyone is invited to attend this special arrival and greeting by Santa and his elves.

The Ida library will feature children’s craft making and will continue the tradition of distributing free festival badges from 10 a.m. to noon.

Lynn C. Weeman Post of the American Legion and Auxiliary will hold their annual children’s “Lunch with Santa” at St. Joseph Catholic Church Hall on VanAiken Street. Due to the popularity of this lunch, there will be two seatings, the first at 11 a.m. and the second at noon. The Lynn C. Weeman Post has received national recognition for this free lunch, which provides gifts for all children attending Tickets are available at Ida Library, Village Pharamacy, and Zorn’s Service, Inc. During the lunch, Santa will be in attendance to greet children and for seated photographs for a nominal fee.

Throughout the day, Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves, Maureen Kubiske, Janna Boyd, Christina Allyn, Jessie Kinsey, Heather Opfermann, Jennifer Hutka and costumed characters will be visiting businesses and events throughout the village.

Santa’s Zoo will be located on Lewis Avenue across from the Ida Farmers Co-Op and will be open throughout the day and during the parade. The zoo will feature llamas, rheas, albino wallabies and other animals and is sponsored by Parks Paradise in Ida.

St. Joseph Catholic Church in Ida will have its crèche display open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. The display was built by the Rev. John LaCasse and is considered to be one of the finest crèche displays in the world.

Beginning at 2 p.m. at the school, the Owl Creek Clydesdales from Fredrictown, Ohio will be on display and readying an eight-horse Clydesdale hitch that will perform in the night light parade. These Clydesdales are a national championship hitch that competes throughout the United States and will present a colorful Christmas display.

There will be food vendors stationed throughout the village with American, German and Mexican food favorites. Local organizations serving food are the Ida United Methodist Church with sandwiches; Ida Township Volunteer Firemen with hot dogs and hamburgers; and Ida Boy Scout Troop 538 will sell elephant ears downtown.

Ida High School Class of 2005 will conduct a chili dinner upstairs at the Ida Township Fire Hall from 5-7 p.m., and St. Joseph Catholic Church will have a spaghetti dinner from 4-7 p.m.

Ida Civic Club will host a welcome and information center at Lark’s Dentistry office at the corner of VanAiken and Lewis Ave., where commemorative festival memorabilia can be found, as well as warm beverages.
Saturday evening, prior to the parade, the lighting of the Great Ida Christmas Tree will take place at the Ida Township Hall, at 6:15 p.m.

The ever-popular Christmas In Ida Night Light Parade begins at 6:30 p.m. and will include more than 100 illuminated parade units featuring bands, floats, fire trucks, parade balloons, marching groups and farm implements from the agriculture community.

Immediately after the parade, a display of the parade entries, entertainment and the Great Christmas Fireworks display, sponsored by Stoneco-London Aggregate will take place at Ida High School. Ida, Dundee, Summerfield and St. Mary Catholic Central marching bands will provide musical entertainment. Food and beverages will be available at the school, sold by Ida Band Boosters.

Concluding the evening’s festivities will be a new merchandise auction sponsored by Ida High School Class of 2004, at the middle school. The public is invited to attend.

During the parade, parking will be prohibited on Lewis Ave. between Ida East/West roads and Ida Street to provide additional spectator viewing in the parking lanes. Visitors are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

Visitors also are encouraged to use a shuttle bus service from parking lots on the north side of town at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and south of town at Hamlin’s Auction House. The shuttle will operate between 3:30 and 11 p.m. There also are parking lots on Lewis, VanAiken, Southwick, Ida West and Ida East roads.

In case of rain cancellation, the parade will take place on Sunday, Dec. 8 at the same time.
The festival concludes on Sunday with an eight-band Christmas collage concert at Ida High School, at 2 p.m.

The Christmas in Ida festival was founded by Ida Civic Club and continues to be sponsored by that group as well s other businesses and service organizations.

Prior to the festival, while in the Village of Ida, tune to 92.9 FM for a 24-hour public service announcement regarding festival and parade information.