Signs of Christmas are about to cover Wilmore, from garland and lights throughout town to beautiful wintery scenes illustrated on shop windows.
Tomorrow marks the start of Wilmore’s annual “Paint the Town.” It is a time when volunteers work with the Wilmore Community Development Board to paint Christmas scenes on the windows of some Wilmore businesses.
At no cost to the businesses, the city of Wilmore organizes a small group of volunteers to paint festive designs, either from stencils or by hand.
Judy Woolums, the Wilmore Community Development Coordinator, organizes the event and coordinates the volunteers.
For nearly 10 years, Wilmore has “painted the town” in conjunction with all the other decorations they put up for the holidays.
“It’s just a service we try to provide; it just boosts up downtown a little bit,” Woolums said. “It’s a free service to our merchants to help them out.”
Shops that will feature the art in their windows include Subway, Fitch’s IGA, Rachel’s Rose Garden and more.
As of last week, there were around seven volunteers signed up to paint, but Woolums said all who want to participate in the process are welcome to join the group of volunteers.
From designs as simple as candy canes and Christmas ornaments to more elaborate pattern-assisted designs, all levels of artwork are welcome.
The process of painting the windows is ongoing based on the volunteers’ schedules from Nov. 17 until Dec. 1, just in time for another hallmark Wilmore event, the “Old Fashion Musical Christmas.”
Last year, the Old Fashioned Christmas featured a pancake breakfast, a homemade Christmas craft fair, a model trains display, mini train rides, a tree lighting ceremony, a main street stroll and local businesses held Christmas open houses with sales.
While this year will be a little different, classics like the open houses and tree-lighting ceremony are sure to make the schedule all leading up to the grand finale for the night.