Christmas in the Valley Craft Fair and Parade

RUMFORD -- This Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Christmas in the Valley Craft Fair kicks off the holidays at Mountain Valley High School, sponsored by the River Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Some 56 crafters and seven home-based businesses will feature their crafts and wares. A $1 donation at the door will help the Interact Group with their upcoming activities.  
Come early to pick up your holiday cookies at the always popular Cookie Walk where over 75 dozen will be on hand.  The Kid’s Corner, under the supervision of the Interact Group will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The children can come and play games.
Need a great Christmas gift?  A beautiful rocking chair donated by Maine Made Furniture is the new raffle item. Raffle tickets are $1 for one or six for $5. These tickets will be available at the Christmas in the Valley apparel table located near the door as you enter the gym.  Proceeds from this go to the scholarship funds for Mountain Valley and Dirigo high. Another favorite raffle on hand will be Jennifer Kreckel’s famous cookies; stop by the Christmas in the Valley booth to buy your tickets.
Don’t forget to get your tickets for the Chinese auction where each crafter present will donate one of their wares to be raffled off.
This year’s kitchen will be stocked and run by the Rumford/River Valley Relay For Life committee with all the kitchen proceeds going to Relay For Life. Breakfast will consist of donuts, coffee cake, coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Lunch is going to have a mouth-watering turkey pie plate with all the fixings, chili, hot dogs or chili dogs, and homemade apple pie or brownies for dessert.  
The committee will also be selling pies so pick yours up for your holiday festivities. Advance orders only; call Diane Mitchell at 364-8358 to order yours today.
Christmas in the Valley in the River Valley will continue with the holiday parade at 6:30 p.m. on December 7. The Christmas in the Valley Parade sponsored by the River Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Rumford Fire Department featuring the 10 towns in the River Valley.  
The parade starts at the Mountain Valley High School. Registrations open from 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. with a 6:30 start time. Judging of the floats will happen promptly at 5:30.  “A Holiday Production” (favorite holiday story or movie) is the theme. The parade will go down through Waldo Street, up Rumford Avenue, around the rotary and onto Congress Street where Santa will wave his hands at the head of Congress Street and the Christmas tree will magically light up officially starting the holiday shopping on Shopper’s Island. Santa will greet the children after the parade at the fire station. Anyone interested in having a float in the parade fill out a parade registration form the Chamber of Commerce and drop it off at the Rumford Information Center. Categories for the floats are non-profit/civic and business/commercial. There will be banners for the winners of these two categories placed in front of their float for the parade.