Dillsboro Cholate Factory ready for the holidays. Photo by Rebecca Romo.
Lights and Luminaries takes place in Dillsboro. The entire town glows with Christmas lights and luminaries. Businesses offer refreshments, music, and discounts to WCU students and the community. Along with that, there are horse-drawn carriage rides, iceless ice skating, live entertainment, and many freebies.
It’s a great opportunity for students, to relax, and get in the holiday spirit before exam week.
“The event is always great, I went last year, and plan to go every year,” second year student, Meagan Brittain, said. It is also an opportunity for local businesses to show off what they have.
“Claymates”, paint your own pottery studio, is a place that drew in a large crowd. They offered a limited amount of free paint-your-own ornaments, and even after those ran out, the place was still packed with customers.
“We had a total of 295 people that painted something. Despite the rain, we had a great turnout, it was a win, win,” studio owner, Brian Hockman, said.
WCU student Cameron Ward liked that Claymates offered that. She thought it was a “cute idea.” But her favorite part was “getting to try different sauces and jams in some of the stores, it was also nice getting to interact with members of the community.”
Many students mentioned that if it was not for the event, they wouldn’t even know where Dillsboro was. Student, Stephanie Reguero- Soto, has been at WCU for four years and this was her first time going.
“I absolutely loved going! Although it rained I don’t really think it took away from the experience, my favorite part was getting to explore all of the local businesses,” she said.
Reguero-Soto enjoyed all the samples that were being given out and plans to go back next year.
Mike Potts, owner of Nancy Tut’s Christmas Shop said that he is always impressed with the amount of WCU students that he sees go out to Lights and Luminaries.
“The night went great the students came with a bunch of Christmas spirit and battled the weather with great behavior,” Potts said.
All in all WCU night was a success. The rain may have slowed down the traffic, but it did not stop the festive night.
