Your Ultimate Guide to Christmas in Marion County

Snow is in the air, with a faint smell of cinnamon and ginger. Wreaths on every corner, lights on every post. Carols and cocoa, Santa and sleigh bells. Everyone is welcome to share in the feast and the fun. It’s not only snow, but spirit in the air. There’s nothing like Christmas in Marion.

Here, the Christmas season begins as soon as the turkey is digested! Marion County has countless holiday who-be-what-ees to get you in the Christmas spirit. 

Winter Wonderland

The Celebration of Lights is a lovely luminescent mile of holiday cheer and Christmas spirit. Scene after scene of adorable Christmas lights and lighted scenes. The Celebration of Lights will have you driving through more than 500 displays of animated Christmas lights lining every surface (whatever will stand still, anyway). Catch the Market in Park held one night a year, where you can stroll through the lights and shop vendors, food trucks and more. There are so many options of how to see this traditional celebration: walk through, drive through, run through or play through!

With a mix of driving and walking nights, you can take a drive through the lights while listening to quintessential holiday jingles. Every Wednesday is walkers’ nights with hot chocolate and cider. The Reindeer Run is a 5k race to see who the fastest cheermeister is! Try your hand at the Holiday Glow Bowl, a disc golf tournament through all the lights! And the best part? All the proceeds from driving, walking, running and playing go to the United Way of Marion County!

Food

Marion County loves Christmas, but we love it in a different way than the rest of West Virginia and from the rest of America. How so? We love it in a very Italian American way. (Emphasis on both ‘Italian’ and ‘American’ (and ‘both and ‘and’).)

Enjoy the traditional foods of our great-grandparents at Festival Cucina, where you’ll watch and learn how to make seven fish dishes before tasting them yourself.

Continue eating Italian foods with the atmosphere of family and community… and space heaters. Keep the Italian Christmas Spirit the next day at the Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival! Live music, wine, frittis and plenty of fish await you! Frittelle, or “frittis” as we call them, are basically Italian donuts eaten on Christmas Eve (and this day, but that’s it!). 

Shopping

In conjunction with the Feast of the Seven Fishes is the Hometown Christmas Market. This two-day event will help you get all your Christmas shopping done with over 50 vendors.

Coal and Christmas go hand-in-hand, don’t they? Don’t worry! We don’t want you to get a lump of coal for Christmas! No matter how far removed we are from the coal-booming days, it will always be a massive part of our Italian Appalachian history. It’s something we can’t and don’t want to forget. That’s why we have The Sixth Annual Coal Miners Appreciation Day & Swap Meet! This swap meet, in commemoration of the Monongah Mining Disaster, is heavy with memories and vintage coal mining pieces. You can buy, sell or trade here. So don’t give someone coal for Christmas; get them old-timey coal mining equipment! After all, if it weren’t for the hard working Italian miners, the The Feast of the Seven Fishes and the pepperoni roll might not be part of our culture today. 

The West Augusta Historical Society can help you deck those halls with fresh pine arrangements and wreaths found at their annual Greenary Bazaar. Call 304.986.2647 or 304.986.1981 to pre-order specialty items.

Tradition

Christmas in Our Town is the Barrackville community Christmas celebration! It’s about spreading Christmas cheer for all to see. Lights, crafts, food, a parade, and entertainment.

Pricketts Fort is a Christmas destination! How could a beautiful and historic fort be any more incredible to see? When it’s decked with boughs of holly and fa-lalala! Immerse yourself in the traditions of yore with interpreter-led tours. You’ll see Christmas in a whole new light — candlelight that is! Choose between daytime and evening tours where you can learn how the holiday was celebrated during colonial times and hear live, period-appropriate music. 

Fun

Don’t forget about next year. January counts as part of the holiday season, so start the new year right! How? The Great Pepperoni Roll Drop on New Year’s Eve. Ring in the new year with Mannington’s Annual New Years’ Eve Great Pepperoni Roll Drop! Live music, games, beer gardens, fire pits and food vendors make for the perfect New Years Eve party. The Raising of the Roll will be at 9 p.m. and will begin dropping at 11:59 p.m.

Which holiday traditions do you celebrate?