Annual Christmas
Drive-Thru Event
Features Several
New Visual Effects
Greeneville's Hardin Park is providing what could be the extra nudge needed to get some folks in the Christmas spirit.
The popular "Christmas in the Park" display begins Friday evening and will continue through Sunday, Dec. 30.
Visitors may drive through the park without charge from 6 to 10 p.m., entering from Crescent Street at the regular park entrance.
The annual event is coordinated and presented as a public service by the staff of the Greeneville Department of Parks and Recreation.
The many colorful, brightly-lighted displays feature Christmas-season subjects of every kind, both religious and secular, as well as cartoon scenes, animated figures, and a variety of holiday messages.
Several new displays have been added for this Christmas season, according to a spokesman for the department.
The cost of purchasing the lighted displays that are part of "Christmas in the Park" comes from volunteer public contributions and through a special events fund.
This year, as in other recent years, hayrides will be offered on certain nights: Friday, Dec. 21, and Saturday, Dec. 22. The hayrides will begin in the parking lot behind the Old Field.
In addition, the Parks and Recreation Department is seeking church and youth groups, as well as school choirs, with an interest in caroling inside the park.
Anyone interested is asked to contact Lisa Fisher, Parks and Recreation Department executive assistant, at 638-3143 for more information.
Both admission to Christmas in the Park and the hayrides are free. Volunteer donations from the public to continue to maintain and improve the displays are welcome, however, and are accepted at the entrance to the park.
Spacious Hardin Park is located not far from the Asheville Highway/Vann Road intersection, on one side, and very near the South Main Street/Crescent Street intersection on the other side.
The park borders Magnolia Drive on one end and Crescent Street on the other end, and is adjacent to the campus of Hal Henard Elementary School and the campus of Greeneville Middle School.
