Attend a lively musical performance, go dancing at one of the many street festivals planned throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains, explore regional gem mines, sample your way across a food and wine festival, or explore a new art exhibit. There’s no shortage of cool things to do here in Western North Carolina. Here’s a list of some of the best events taking place this month.

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A Small Town Christmas
December 6, 2019 - December 8, 2019
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Create lasting memories during a special weekend filled with traditional holiday activities. A Small Town Christmas in Banner Elk begins Friday evening with the lighting of the town tree and a holiday play performed by Ensemble Stage at the Historic Banner Elk School.
Saturday’s events begin early in the morning and stretch well into the evening. Festivities include: a 5K run, pancake breakfast with Santa, a holiday market, pet photos with Santa, ornament making and cookie decorating. A new event this year, the Polar Plunge, takes place at Wildcat Lake. As the sun sets, the Banner Elk Parade of Lights kicks off at 6 p.m. at Lees-McRae College. The parade not only includes the traditional marching bands, cars and floats, but also features surprises, such as dogs dressed in lights and Santa arriving on a fire truck.
Sunday is reserved for visiting one of the many choose & cut tree farms in the surrounding countryside. Lodging packages, which include a choose & cut Christmas tree, are available.