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Delaware Habitat for Humanity partnered with Dover police to help kick-off the holidays with last Saturday’s Hometown Holiday Christmas event on Legislative Mall.
Dover Police Corporal Lee Killen came up with the idea.
“The Hometown Holiday Event started last year, I had the idea at the end of November, that it would be a good idea to have a holiday event for the city of Dover” said Killen.
Nonprofit organizations like Habitat for Humanity teamed up with the Dover Police Department to deliver a family friendly outing.
“We talked about what we can do around the holidays to bring all of the different sectors of the community together” said Habitat for Humanity’s Tim Bailey. “It’s a completely free experience, food, hot chocolate, a little ice skating, there’s a petting zoo. It’s one of those things where we want a barrier free holiday experience for the whole community.”
Killen says the goal is emphasize the best parts of the holidays.
“The thought process was that this would be a fun event for everybody without having any stress attached to it” said Killen.
Other local holiday events hope to do the same - including the Kent County public library’s Songs and Stories event focused on the classic holiday story, “The Night Before Christmas”.
“One thing were absolutely going to be doing is celebrating the 200th anniversary of A Night Before Christmas and we will certain be reading that poem and we are expecting a special guest from the North Pole,” said Kent County Library Librarian Hillary Willard.
And Willard adds there is Delaware connection to the story they’ll highlight.
“The really cool thing about the illustrations is the very first illustrated version of The Night Before Christmas was by a Delaware illustrator,” she said.
The holiday calendar also includes other area events like this Saturday’s Dover Christmas Parade and this Sunday’s Cookies with Santa at the Magnolia Firehouse.