25th Christmas in Berlin is Nov. 24

The Berlin Area Merchants will celebrate the start of the Christmas season with a live nativity parade and candlelight ceremony on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving. The nativity parade will begin at 5:45 p.m. at the Berlin Village Gift Barn and conclude at the stage at the center of town, where the candlelight ceremony will be held and the Christmas story will be read by Larry Kaufman.

The parade will feature Mary and Joseph, the three wise men, angels, shepherds, and live animals such as camels, sheep, goats, a donkey and horses, all donated by The Farm at Walnut Creek, which also will bring a horse-drawn sleigh, a team of oxen, a wagon and lots of animals. Attendees also may encounter Frosty the Snowman dancing along and giving candy to children along the street.

The Berlin Area Merchants will once again partner in sponsoring Operation Christmas Child. They will serve hot chocolate, coffee and cookies, all for a donation of which 100% of proceeds will go to sponsor shoeboxes. These boxes help children all over the world by bringing school supplies, hygiene items and small gift items. Every year locals travel to Charlotte with a motor coach full of volunteers to help prepare shoeboxes to be sent overseas.

Operation Christmas Child is a division of Samaritan’s Purse, a ministry started in 1970 and headed up by Franklin Graham, son of Rev. Billy Graham.

This is the 25th year for Christmas in Berlin.

“It started with a few merchants standing in the street corner singing Christmas carols and has grown in leaps and bounds since then,” said Elsie Sommer, owner of Sommer’s General Store.

Now Berlin sees thousands of visitors every year for this event, and some make this an annual appointment on their calendar, driving many miles and returning year after year.