Mistletoe Fair goes country with ‘A Farmhouse Christmas’
With a country-themed style to the festivities, this year’s Mistletoe Fair starts next week at the Four States Fairgrounds.
Billed as “A Farmhouse Christmas,” Mistletoe Fair kicks off with its Country Cocktail Preview Party on Thursday, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., with food served by Scottie’s Grill.
The fair itself opens from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday, then on Saturday, Nov. 18, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 19, from noon to 5 p.m. A Farmhouse Lunch is served that Friday from noon to 1 p.m. with trivia, food by Chef on the Run’s Jeff Loving and singing from the 4 States Fusion Chorus with a private shopping hour from 11 a.m. to noon.
Santa events for the kids include Story Times with both Santa and Mrs. Claus, Breakfast with Santa and Santa’s Workshops. Riding on a tractor, Santa arrives at 6:30 p.m. Friday, forever a Mistletoe Fair highlight. Some years he’s arrived by helicopter, but this year his ride comes from the farm.
Mandy Cater and Whitney Hall are serving as co-chairmen for this year’s Mistletoe Fair.
“We start off with the Preview Party ever year. This year it’s the Country Cocktail,” Cater said. “We’re excited to have I’ve Heard Worse playing, something to switch it up a little bit. They play a little bit of everything.” They’ll keep it in the Christmas spirit, too, she said, and there will be a few surprise guests mingling in the crowd. A casino, wine from Girls Gone Wine and a silent auction are included.
Normally, the Friday lunch has been a brunch, but they decided to start an hour later this year, Cater said. They’ve also added Christmas trivia to the entertainment. “Since trivia is everywhere now,” she said.
The menu includes an appetizer of pumpkin soup with creme fraiche and spicy pumpkin seeds. The main course highlights include a crunchy English muffin with grilled ham, spinach artichoke egg casserole topped with a hot sauce hollandaise sauce and roasted potatoes and asparagus.
About Santa’s arrival on Family Night, she said, “Santa will be arriving straight from the farm from reindeer duty on a tractor covered in lace because it’s Farmhouse Christmas.” Santa will preside over two Breakfasts with Santa on Saturday morning.
On that Sunday afternoon starting at 2:30 p.m., another addition is Strut the Mutt. It’s a pageant that showcases pooches eligible for adoption. They come from local animal shelters.
“It’s a holiday Christmas pageant for local shelter pups,” Cater said. “We’re hoping to get puppies adopted.” Expect to see the pups sporting holiday gear as they strut their stuff.
“It’s like a parade of them,” said Hall. The medium to large dogs in this parade will put their best paw forward for the event.
The Thursday night benefit drawing has trip prizes, including a Cabo San Lucas trip, a U.S. Open trip and a Tahoe ski trip. “Everything’s for two people,” Hall said. Tickets are $50.
As far as vendors this year, they had 65 confirmed as of earlier this week. That’s pretty close to capacity. Twenty-five of the vendors are new this year. “So we’ve got people not just from the Texarkana ArkLa-Tex area. People are coming from all over,” Hall said. They aimed for variety and new participants.
New vendors include cute children’s holiday clothing boutiques, delicious food vendors, custom T-shirt makers, woodworkers, makeup and jewelry suppliers and more. Many of the traditional vendors Mistletoe Fair-goers have come to love will still be on hand.
“We’re going to have a bath bomb soap boutique there,” Cater said.
Hall said they listened to their patrons with some of these changes and sought to bring a sense of home to the fair. Mistletoe Fair, in some way, kicks off the holiday shopping season in Texarkana and supports the Junior League of Texarkana’s community programs here. Junior Leaguers work towards a common goal to make it happen.
“Everybody just buckles down and gets it done,” Cater said. That makes it a success, she believes. The event also gives people a glimpse of Junior League projects like Teacher Take Wing grants and Shoes for the Soul.
Said Hall, “I’ve been going since I was a little girl. My mom was in the Junior League. I’ve always wanted to to join it. I just remember whenever you walk in there’s just a feeling about it. It’s going to get you in the spirit.”
(Admission: $5 in advance, $7 at the door, $10 for a weekend pass. For more information and full ticket information and purchase, visit jltexarkana.org.)