Aurora planning 4th ‘Come Home to Christmas’

The end of the year calls for family to gather together as the days grow darker and the Aurora Chamber of Commerce’s Come Home for Christmas, now in its fourth year, will provide that opportunity on the downtown square Nov. 26.
The event brings back old holiday favorites from horse carriage rides to visiting Santa, ending with the grand lighting of the bandstand and the lighted tractor parade at around 6 p.m. As chairman of the Come Home to Christmas committee Julie Wasem said the goal is to bring people together.
“Come Home to Christmas is designed to be a feel-good kind of thing,” Wasem said. “We kind of got the idea from Hallmark movies. I’m from David City, where they put on an event similar to this several years ago and so we kind of modeled some things after that. But the most important part is there is something to do for people who come back for the holidays over Thanksgiving.”
Justise Rhoden, executive director of the Aurora Chamber of Commerce, agreed that the event is set to be a big success with families ready to start Christmas shopping together. 
“Last year, we had about 1,500 people in our community for the event,” she said. “We picked the date because it is Small Business Saturday and with everyone in town for Thanksgiving it would give them something to do while starting holiday shopping. We are now in year four of the event, so I feel that people are starting to become more familiar with the event and hopefully are making plans to stay in Aurora for Thanksgiving or inviting their family to come hang out for the fun activities.” 
New this year in the tractor parade is the allowance of contestants to enter 4-wheel ATVs for the first time. The parade is an important highlight of the event, according to Wasem.
“We also want to be celebrating the end of harvest, since we’re a farming community,” she commented. “We’ve got the greatest farmers in the world, especially in our community.”
Also new this year, a gingerbread house contest, whose winner will be featured by the Aurora News-Register. The event will also serve as a fundraiser for the Hamilton County Food Pantry.
“The judging will be done by the public, who will put money in the little container next to the one you liked the best,” Wasem explained. “We have a lot of creative people who already know how to do it. The big prize is publicity in the newspaper, getting your name out there, and then all these proceeds of whoever votes goes to the Hamilton County Food Pantry.”
Back again will be eight characters of holiday themes like St. Nicholas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, who will pop up in shops participating for Small Business Saturday.
“(The performers) are in professional costumes,” Wasem explained. “These are students from the high school, they’re National Honor Society students in most cases, and they tell you about their character. It just gives kids something fun to do or to get pictures with them.”
Wasem stated that coordinating the event on Small Business Saturday will give great benefits to shops on the downtown square.
“I’ll tell you what, they were very excited because it brings people to town,” she said. “Due to the pop-ups and their own promotions that they do for that day, they, many times, offer discounts and so on and so forth. So they have had huge success in sales on that day.”
Rhoden elaborated on how businesses will coordinate with the event.
“The main focus of the event is to get people out shopping for the season and supporting local,” she said. “Many of our retailers run their own specials and we like to advertise them for the event. We post all over social media, website, E-blast and posters around town so if there is a Chamber member business wanting to participate or planning to do something fun during that time, just reach out to us and we would love to get the word out.”
Also available will be food with the soup supper at Aurora Fire Barn from 4-7 p.m. as well as a Prairie Island Poppers food truck. Other events will include a free showing of “Elf” at 12th Street Cinema at 2 p.m., horse carriage rides from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wonderland of Trees at the Plainsman Museum and a Tempo Dance Studio performance at 4 p.m.
Rhoden concluded by saying the event is a remarkable opportunity for Aurora.
“It fills my heart to see all the families wanting to support local and really adds a unique feel to our community,” she said. “I always love the Christmas lights around the square. It makes our community feel like a Hallmark Christmas movie. Our downtown is beautiful and we are just so happy to see all the people come out and experience how wonderful of a community we have here.” 
Wasem went on to say that though the weather outside may be cold, Come Home to Christmas will bring cozy feelings to attendees’ hearts.
“Well, I think it gives them warm feelings about their hometown, and the fact that we’re thriving,” she stated. “I mean, we had people from Pennsylvania, Colorado, Ohio and Indiana..., so I think it’s a pride factor that they come back and they see their town is still thriving. They’re fortunate to be doing that. We have a lot of things going on here and some have even chosen to move back here, that keeps happening all the time.”
People can find more about events with a QR code or by going to https://auroranebraska.com/ which also has links to signing up for the lighted tractor parade.