On Nov. 19, thousands of lights were lit up around the Oxford Square kicking off the fourth year of the Holly Jolly Holidays celebration capturing the holiday season in Oxford. This year, the celebration includes many different sights and attractions to bring a festive spirit to the town.

Visit Oxford’s Partnerships Manager Laine Mitchell explains the long preparation process that happens to prepare for the celebration.

“It takes a lot of preparation to put on the celebration,” Mitchell said. “We usually start in July getting the skating rink ready, then we go month by month getting the other little things ready. We have to have a lot of meetings with city departments along with a lot of coordination and communication to put on the celebration.”

While the celebration is starting to become a yearly tradition in Oxford, Marketing and Sales Manager Nadia Thornton shares the origin of the idea.

“The idea kind of came up in 2020 during the pandemic to try and have a fun activity to do. It was a really small version so it was safe for everyone, from there we really grew the celebration,” Thornton said.

Although decorating the Oxford Square with Christmas lights has been a tradition for many years, it continues to be a popular sight for the community.

“I think the lighting of the square is really special because everyone in the community is able to come together to watch it all happen and really just kick off the start of the season,” Thornton said.

As the holiday season comes to an end, Thornton believes that the celebration helps the town attract more people and gets the community in the Christmas spirit.

“I think the skating rink and the decorations really get everybody in the Christmas spirit. We have lots of fun decorations and things that help attract people to come visit Oxford. The lights and decorations really speak for themselves, but having the ice skating rink really helps draw attention to Oxford and make the town more festive,” Thornton said.

This year, the celebration has attracted national attention as Fox Business’ Small Town Christmas featuring the holiday season in Oxford.

“We had the Small Town Christmas show come and film during opening weekend which was really cool,” Thornton said. “They had been talking to us about filming an episode here for almost a year because they really wanted to feature Oxford. They were able highlight many local businesses as well as the celebration.”With many new additions added this year, Mitchell shares the excitement for the celebration.

“We’re excited to have the Holly Jolly Holidays celebrations and hope everyone comes out to see what Oxford has to offer during the holidays,” Mitchell said.