There may not be snow on the ground, but it will feel like Christmas on Saturday in downtown Dalton when the Whitfield County-Dalton Day Care Center presents its third annual Mistletoe Festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“It’s a chance to get out and have some fun with the family and kick off the Christmas season,” said center Assistant Director Candyss Fowler. “All proceeds go to Whitfield County-Dalton Day Care.”
The center provides year-round day care for the children of low-income and working families. It opened in 1971 and currently serves 192 children.
All of the events take place at the Burr Performing Arts Park except a movie that will be shown in the Wink Theatre.
“We have 61 vendors this year,” said Fowler. “We’ll have people selling Christmas trees, door hangers, jewelry, clothes, facepainting. It will be a good place to do some Christmas shopping. We’ll have all sorts of food — barbecue, Mexican food, street tacos, Asian food, Southern cooking. Just about anything you can think of.”
There will be inflatables including bouncy houses, slides and various games. Children will be able to have their photo taken with Santa Claus.
“We’ll have a professional photographer taking the photos with Santa,” said Fowler. “You’ll get a digital image free, and if you’d like to purchase a package, there will be options available. The photographer will be there from noon to 4 p.m.”
There will also be live entertainment.
“We’ve got groups from our local schools that will be performing, local theater groups,” Fowler said. “We will also be showcasing our children from the day care center. We thought it would be neat to let them perform on the stage.”
Each year, the festival features a Christmas-themed movie.
“This year we are going to be showing ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’ at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. in the Wink Theatre,” Fowler said.
This 2018 American movie is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s short story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” as well as Marius Petipa and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker.”
“There is no admission to the event,” said Fowler. “There’s a $5 fee if you want to see the movie or your children want to do the inflatables. That’s for both. You get a wristband allowing you in. But it’s free to walk around and see everything.”
Tickets for inflatables and the movie will be available at the park on Saturday or they can be purchased in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mistletoe-festival-tickets-734728421487.
“The event is rain or shine,” said Fowler. “The movie will still take place. There will be things we can do indoors, so we will do the event no matter what the weather is like.”