T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Wendy Anderson, right, director of the St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Lisa Kindler, marketing coordinator and director of the Belmont County Safety Council, plan the Christmas tree lighting and parade in the city.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The city is celebrating the festive spirit of the holiday season.

St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce Director Wendy Anderson said following the decision to hold the city’s Christmas parade during December, the tree-lighting was held Saturday, Nov. 18, to expand the holiday activities into a series of fun family events.

Area businesses will also be decking the halls.

“We have a Christmas vendor village this year. Right now, we probably have over 20 vendors,” she said.

“We’re going to work with the Main Street Business Association and have everybody decorate for Christmas.”

Anderson said the autumn corn stalks that have decorated the city’s light poles were taken down last week, and Christmas banners went up by the time of the tree lighting.

Christmas carolers sang, and the St. Clairsville High School Marching Band escorted Santa Claus to the 7 p.m. tree lighting.

Sponsors included businesses such as Rebellion Sky, WesBanco, Shults Ford, Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration and Chick-fil-A, as well as the city of St. Clairsville.

In addition, Ford Motor Co. provided an F-150 Lightning electric vehicle to power the tree lighting for a period before the lights were switched to city power.

“We are going to have Santa throw his magic dust over a Ford truck,” Anderson said prior to the event. “(Ford) contacted us, and they were interested in having our tree lighting incorporate an electric truck to show how this electric truck will be able to light this tree.”

Anderson thanked the city of St. Clairsville for its support.

“The city has been very good to us,” she said.

The tree will remain lit until the end of January.

The annual Christmas parade will be held Dec. 3. Lineup is at 1 p.m., and the parade begins at 3 p.m. Santa Claus will be riding in on a Cumberland Trail fire engine.

“We’re looking for volunteers to help with the Christmas parade for lineup. If anybody’s interested they can give us a call in the office,” Anderson said. “We need crowd control to make sure that the crowd stays back on the sidewalk, because that’s an issue, especially when they throw candy, because of the kids.”

This year WVU Medicine will serve as the parade’s title sponsor for the first time. An impressive turnout is expected, as community members and visitors always turn out to watch.

“Every year we’ve been surprised at how nice and how well-received it is,” she said. “All the kids want to see Santa Claus.”

WTRF will broadcast the parade live. In past years, the parade has been taped and shown Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

“But we figured nobody watches the parade on those days,” Anderson said. “I think it’s going to be a little more in the here and now.”

However, this will mean a “tighter” parade, with a strict limit of 80 floats so that the parade will be completed within the set broadcast time.

“It has to be live from the beginning to the end, so we only have an hour. One hour to get 80 floats through,” she said. “That’s including anybody who’s doing dance numbers.”

The chamber’s phone number is 740-695-9623. For more information, call or visit the office at 117 E. Main St., St. Clairsville or email director@stcchamber.com.

The parade was also moved to an early hour for better visibility.

This year’s parade marshal will be Darol Dickinson of Dickinson Cattle Co. in Barnesville. Dickinson, 81, has been living in the area since 1993, raising all-natural local beef cattle and selling registered cattle all over the world.

“We wanted someone who represented Belmont County – the whole county — and Darol does just that,” Anderson said, adding that he has employed many area residents. “He’s just a kind soul.”

Dickinson was contacted after the honor was announced.

“It was certainly a surprise,” he said. “Wendy has always been a dear friend, and we support the Barnesville and St. Clairsville chambers of commerce. We think those are important organizations, and we’re honored about this grand marshal. I never had anybody ask me to do that.

“We like Ohio. We love Belmont County and the peaceful, quiet area here,” he said. “it’s a wonderful place to raise a family.”

Anderson invites all to the parade.

“Come on down, and if you haven’t made your trek to St. Clairsville, this is the time to do it,” Anderson said.