PARIS — Christmas is coming to town Friday with the start of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce’s 8th annual Festival of Trees and Saturday’s Christmas Parade, billed as the largest Christmas parade in Maine.

The Festival of Trees, a three-day event, will be held next to Olympia Sports in the Twin Town Plaza across from the high school on Main Street. On Friday, it will be open from 5 to 8 p.m. On Saturday, it will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. And on Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Santa and Mrs. Claus — who will be in town for Saturday’s parade — will be at the Festival of Trees from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Both events are organized by the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce and feature the best of local businesses’ holiday spirit.

The parade will feature dozens of floats sponsored by various businesses and organizations, and will step off on Main Street in Norway at 11 a.m. The parade will then move through the downtown and turn left at Guy E. Rowe Elementary School into Paris, ending at Market Square.

For those along the parade route, Saturday’s temperatures are expected to be warmer than earlier in the week, predicted at 35 degrees with some sun.

The Festival of Trees is a showplace of artificial trees decorated by businesses, organizations, various local groups and private individuals. Each tree is distinctly different and all will be raffled off Sunday.

The event is free to attend.

Raffle tickets for the chance to win a tree are available at the event. Price is $1 per ticket, $5 for six, $10 for 15 and $20 for 35 tickets.

Up to 20 percent of the proceeds will be donated to local charities.

For more information, go to: oxfordhillsmaine.com.

 

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