Visiting Santa Claus at the 2017 town tree lighting

Santa Claus

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This week was the scheduled lighting of the Christmas tree at the large shopping area near our home, Holly Springs Towne Center.  They had a light-up Christmas tree, bounce houses, face painting and Cinder, the fire prevention dog.  There were vendors on hand to talk about their businesses and the Mayor was scheduled to light the Christmas tree.  Unfortunately, the Mayor had a family emergency and didn’t make it, so the Fire Prevention Officer and Santa Claus lit the tree instead.

We went up there for a bit to check it out and let Brian meet Santa.  They had a snow machine, which was pretty neat too.  Brian got to practice catching snowflakes and he told Santa what he wanted for Christmas.  He later advised us that he wanted to huge Christmas tree Santa had just lit, which he won’t be getting.

NC State Farmers Market

N.C. State Farmer’s Market

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Since moving to the area, we’ve noticed that Farmer’s Markets are a big thing around here.  We have the Holly Springs Farmer’s Market, which is open weekly during the spring and summer; they’re open during winter, but it’s bi-weekly.  The town of Apex (just down the road) has the Apex Farmer’s Market during the summer.  Fuquay Varina, a town in the other direction, has their Grower’s Market.

None of these compare to Raleigh’s State Farmer’s Market.  They’re not even close.

The State Farmer’s Market offers building and market space, as well as open air spots for North Carolina farmers to sell fresh produce, plants, and other specialty items produced on local farms.

The Raleigh Farmers Market is one of four regional Farmers Markets owned by the State of North Carolina and operated by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.  These Farmers Markets are strategically located across the state to serve North Carolina farmers, both large and small.

The Farmer’s Building alone has 30,000 square feet and is filled with freshly baked goods, produce, flowers and plants.  It smells amazing!  We bought a couple of air plants in decorative pots for the house and some produce.

The market space is indoors (read as: warm break from the winter breeze!) and offers seafood, ice cream, canned goods and crafts.  We scooped up some amazing Blackberry jam from The Berry Patch there.

This was our second trip (we went a couple weeks earlier with my Aunt and Uncle while they were in town) and it was only about 40° while we were there.  We had a great time and it was an excellent place to get outdoors, walk around and enjoy time with friends or family, and also pick up some produce or other items that support local farmers and other businesses.

Halloween (2017)

Halloween in Holly Springs

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Last night was our first Halloween here in Holly Springs.  My wife loves holidays, and this one ranks near the top.  She loves to decorate and she lives for handing out candy to all the little kids in cute costumes.

When we moved into our new house in Jacksonville back in 2008, she bought the best candy, dragged a couple camping chairs out to the end of the driveway to await the kiddos.  We had six people stop by for candy.  Six.  Seriously.

Aside from the fact that we were a dead end road in our neighborhood (albeit one with a full block or more of houses past ours), there was a local church that did a Trunk-and-Treat event near us on the same night, and we’re pretty certain a lot of the kids end up going to that.  Regardless, it was a huge let down and she was devastated.

The following years were similar, I think we probably had 20-25 kids last year.

HOLLY SPRINGS IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!

We probably saw between 250 and 300 kids last night.  Little ones that were just learning to walk and older ones that are probably in high school.  They just kept coming!  Even after we ran out of candy (oops!) and turned the lights off, we occasionally got hopeful visitors testing the doorbell.  It was a steady flow from 6pm to 8:30 or 8:45.

Brian had a blast — he dressed up as a skeleton — and got tons of candy that he really doesn’t need.  We hung out with the grown-ups in adjoining houses and, as always, had a great time with them.

We’re already excited about next year!