Clay Hale
University of Mississippi students just left Oxford for their Thanksgiving festivities, but the town has been busy ringing in the holiday season over the past weekend with various activities, including the debut of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council’s fourth annual Holly Jolly Holidays on Saturday, Nov. 18 and the city of Oxford’s Lighting of the Square on the evening of Sunday, Nov. 19. Capturing these events and the overall holiday ambiance of Oxford on camera is television network Fox Business Channel, who will air their footage on the upcoming season of “Small Town Christmas.”
“Small Town Christmas” filmed in Oxford over the weekend, aiming to snag a taste of what the Christmas season is like in the community. The show’s host and executive producer, Megan Alexander, has spent her time admiring local-favorite hotspots around Oxford, such as Caffecitos and R&R Cookies, and filming segments around the Holly Jolly Holidays event and the Lighting of the Square.
The series, which debuted in 2021, was created by Alexander, and it came to fruition during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I thought, ‘as soon as we’re able to move around again, our small towns and our small businesses are going to need our support,’” Alexander said. “And I love to travel during the holidays – I always have – with my family. I love visiting small towns (and) seeing how they celebrate. Every town is unique in America and has unique traits of faith, family, community (and) volunteerism. I’m always so impressed how most of these events in small towns are volunteer driven.”
One of the volunteers at the Holly Jolly Holidays opening day, which was hosted at the Old Armory Pavilion, was UM sophomore Spanish and philosophy major Neely Kiihnl. She worked the event to help reach a volunteer hour requirement that the Sally McDonald Barksdale Honors College requires, but she said that the opportunity has been a lot of fun and that she enjoyed her time volunteering.
“It’s been fun, it’s been great,” Kiihnl said. “(I) got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus and meet lots of fun kids who got to meet them as well. It definitely puts you in the Christmas spirit, even if it is a bit early in November.”
In addition to meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus, Holly Jolly Holidays offered ice sculpting, bouncy inflatables and an ice skating rink. The rink will close on Sunday, Jan. 7.
Just over 24 hours later, the city of Oxford hosted the Lighting of the Square. The seasonal decorations were lit up around Oxford’s Square in accompaniment with the sound of Christmas carolers, the warmth of Oxonian townsfolk and the courthouse’s renovations on full display.
Pontotoc, Miss. native Linda Tutor traveled to see the Lighting of the Square on Sunday night. It was her first time seeing the lights being ignited.
“It was just like a fairytale,” Tutor said. “It’s just beautiful. We think Oxford’s great, and we come here all the time for Thacker Mountain Radio – we do that a lot, and it’s (Oxford’s) always so pretty. But we’ve never been here when they actually lit it up.”
Diarra Giddens is an Oxford police officer who worked the Lighting of the Square. He has been an Oxonian for around eight years now, and he thinks the event is positive for the community.
“It’s something that brings the community together, and it’s something that, when it’s this time of year, they expect, and so it’s a good time to fellowship and bring the community together,” Giddens said.
Giddens shared that he will be watching the spotlight of Oxford on “Small Town Christmas” when it airs on TV.
Alexander wrapped up by saying that she has been looking to film in Oxford for a while.
“This is the third season of the show, and I’ve had my eye on Oxford, Mississippi for a while. We wanted to put it into season two, but logistically we just needed to wait until season three,” Alexander said. “But it was at the top of my list. I knew about the Holly Jolly Holidays and I thought, ‘We’ve got to feature it.’ That spirit in this town is so evident, and we’re thrilled to be here and show off your town.”
Catch Oxford’s feature on “Small Town Christmas” on Fox Business Network on Saturday, Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. CST.
