THOMASVILLE- The December meeting of the Thomasville Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) featured a program on Thomasville Main Street and Victorian Christmas. The Christmas luncheon was presided over by Chapter Regent Shelba Sellers who introduced the guest speakers. Brandy Avery is the Main Street Director for the City of Thomasville and Cassidee Brooks is the Special Events Coordinator.

Avery said that the Main Street Program’s mission statement is to “foster and enhance the authentic identity and historic character of downtown Thomasville. Downtown Thomasville will be a dynamic and creative city center where people want to live, aspire to work, love to play and long to return.” Statistics provided in the Main Street Program’s Community Impact Report shows that 8,240 promotional events took place from 2019-2023. The 2023 event attendance was 167,228 with a total attendance of 649,372 during the five-year review. Some $48.3 million has been invested in 60 building rehabilitation projects. In 2023, Main Street was proud to be recognized as a GEMS community which stands for Georgia Exceptional Main Street and is the first Main Street in Georgia to win the Great American Main Street Award. The Thomasville Main Street Program was founded in 1981.

“We are excited to be one of the oldest main streets in Georgia and follow a four-point approach which is Economic Vitality, Design, Organization and Promotion,” said Avery.

Avery also gave a brief history of Victorian Christmas which began in 1986.

“It started as a promotional and marketing campaign to drive people to downtown to shop during the holidays,” said Avery. Now, Victorian Christmas has turned into a festival which averages around 30,000 in attendance over the two-night downtown event and it continues to grow every year.

Cassidee Brooks provided event details about this year’s Victorian Christmas which took place on December 12 and 13. A Victorian Christmas map was provided to lunch attendees which included food and drink options, locations for photo ops, and a schedule of activities and attractions. Brooks said that kids could visit with St. Nick and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. There were carriage rides, entertainment by local musicians, and school groups, a live nativity, The Nutcracker performance, magicians, blacksmith demonstrations, fire performers, and more.

“New to Victorian Christmas is the Winter Wonderland Snow for kids to play in and the Christmas movie, “The Year without a Santa Claus” (1974) will be shown on the big screen at the Ritz Amphitheater,” said Brooks.

The downtown stores and restaurants were open during the event and their windows are decorated for Christmas. The downtown lights on Broad and Madison Streets are beautiful and quite festive. Victorian Christmas was an exciting event for all to enjoy and once the event is over, Brooks said that the staff at the City of Thomasville will begin planning for next year.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 190,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world’s largest and most active service organizations. More than one million women have joined the DAR since it was founded. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.DAR.org. For more information about the Thomasville Chapter DAR, visit thomasville.georgiastatedar.org or facebook.com/ThomasvilleChapterNSDAR.