Home for the Holidays - The Melrose Messenger

Home for the Holidays Coming This Weekend

This weekend, the Melrose Chamber of Commerce will host Home for the Holidays, the citywide holiday open house that marks the start of the holiday season for many Melrosians.

The festivities will begin on Friday evening at 5:45pm, with singing and lighting the Christmas tree in front of City Hall. Then Santa will ride down Main Street on a fire engine, accompanied by the Melrose High School School Marching Band, which recently won the NESBA Division 4 State Championship.

Temple Beth Shalom will host an open house featuring latkes, sufganiyot, and Hanukkah festivities between 6-8pm. Santa will end up at the Knights of Columbus for pictures, hot cocoa, and music. And Leading Edge Real Estate will be showing The Polar Express starting at 5pm.

On Saturday between 10am and 2pm, holiday trolleys will be running along the two routes shown in the map, right. Events will be taking place throughout the city, and the trolleys will help attendees get from one place to the next easily and quickly. Check the Chamber of Commerce website frequently, as events may change and more might be added.

At Cedar Park, where both trolley routes will originate, there will be "reindeer" rides, cookie decorating, and Santa will arrive on the commuter rail. In Franklin Square, Santa will be offering hayrides.

Many local churches, schools, businesses, and organizations are hosting holiday fairs, tree sales, and other events. Many of these can be found in the event listings below.

Performances of the Melrose Youth Ballet's Nutcracker will be running all weekend at Memorial Hall. Polymnia Choral Society will be presenting their holiday concert at St. Mary's Church at 7:30pm on Saturday night. Grand Theft Audio will be performing classic rock covers at the Knights of Columbus at 6pm on Saturday.

On Sunday, some fairs will still be going on, and there will be a holiday swap at the Milano Center, a Sip and Shop at the Melrose Fish and Game Club, a Children's Holiday Party at the Mt Hood Clubhouse, and more.

Below is a listing of many of Saturday's events from the Chamber of Commerce site as well as flyers from organizations about some of the events that will be taking place this weekend.