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St. Charles welcomes holidays with lights, parade, celebrities

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in downtown St. Charles, and this weekend is the best time to bring the family and take in all the Yuletide trimmings.

To start things off, there will be a tree-lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25, at First Street Plaza. On Saturday, Nov. 26, the festivities continue with Holiday Homecoming from 1 to 4 p.m. and the Electric Christmas Parade at 5:30 p.m.

“It's a really great family-oriented event,” said Jenna Sawicki, executive director of the Downtown St. Charles Partnership. “We think downtown St. Charles is so special, being on the river, and we have such a great vibe in downtown and it's great to share.”

Along with Santa, there are a couple of well-known participants in this year's Electric Christmas Parade. Donnie Wahlberg, star of “Blue Bloods” and member of New Kids on the Block, and his wife, Jenny McCarthy Wahlberg, comedic actress and radio host, are the honorary grand marshals and will appear in the parade with their families.

The couple lives in St. Charles, where they film a reality show called “Donnie Loves Jenny,” which airs on A&E network and follows the couple's activities as they settle into St. Charles.

Even without the Wahlbergs, the event is an enormous draw. Last year's event saw 23,000 merry visitors attend the event in a village of approximately 33,000.

This year's Holiday Homecoming includes a few new activities.

“We're doing a Pickled Town Scavenger Hunt,” said Sawicki.

The “pickled” reference comes from a time when St. Charles was considered the pickle capital of the world, according to Sawicki, who lives in Elburn.

“We are working with the history museum and we're having a Selfie Scavenger Day, so all the small businesses in town will have a pickle ornament that you can find.”

Local ballet dancers will adorn the windows of eight Main Street businesses from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, according to organizer Jenny O‘Brien, owner of Dreams Dance Academy in St. Charles.

“It was an idea I had last year, so I brought the idea to Jenna and she loved it and we started working on finding Main Street businesses who wanted to participate and dance studios that wanted to participate as well and coordinated the logistics.”

Ballet dancers from Dreams Dance Academy, Third Street Dance and Theatre Academy, and Beth Fowler School of Dance will pose in dance positions in the eight participating business's front windows. “We're calling it ‘window dancers,' but in a small store window, it's kind of like small poses, sort of like live mannequins in ballet costumes,” said O'Brien, who moved her dance studio to St. Charles from La Fox last year.

Adding to the festivities are traditional activities associated with the event.

“We also have Santa's House and horse-drawn trolley rides … We have free sleigh rides all around downtown and we have a free showing of the movie ‘Elf' at 10 a.m. at the Arcada (Theatre),” said Sawicki.

For details, visit www.downtownstcharles.org.

  St. Charles celebrity residents Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg will be honorary grand marshals of the St. Charles Electric Christmas Parade on Saturday. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com

St. Charles Holiday Homecoming and Electric Christmas Parade

<b>Holiday Homecoming and Electric Light Parade</b>When: Saturday, Nov. 26. Santa's house, sleigh rides and other activities from 1 to 4 p.m. Parade sets off at 5:30 p.m. on Main Street, from Sixth Street to Fourth Avenue.

Details: <a href="http://www.downtownstcharles.org/dscp_events/holiday-homecoming/">www.downtown stcharles.org</a>

<b>Lighting of the Lights</b>When: 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 25

Where: First Street Plaza

Includes: Carols and appearance by Santa

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