2007 Christmas Season Moves into High Gear

Joining Herbert Lewis and Cathy Hurt to open Sweets Coffee Shop in time for Kinston's annual Christmas parade were (from right to left) Kinston City Manager Scott Stephens, City Councilman Will Barker and Mayor Buddy Ritch.

Santa Claus came to Kinston Saturday (Dec. 8, 2007) and left a new coffee shop and internet café in downtown’s stocking. Sweets Coffee Shop proprietors Herbert Lewis and Cathy Hurt opened the doors to their café at 311 N. Queen in time to serve customers gathered along Queen Street to see Kinston’s annual Christmas parade.

A delegation from Kinston city government, led by Mayor O.A. (Buddy) Ritch, were among the couple’s first customers. Joining the mayor in purchasing coffee and muffins were Kinston City Councilman Will Barker, and City Manager Scott Stephens.

The new coffee shop is located in the building, owned by Lenoir County native and Brooklyn, NY resident Demetrice Mills, which was the Pride of Kinston office for many years.

Café hours are from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm Mondays through Fridays, and 8:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturdays. Coffees, teas, juices, muffins and sandwiches are available at the counter. Access to the internet is available in the restaurant’s main dining area.

Christmas Parade Wows Huge Crowds

A colorful array of floats, marching bands and beauty queens wowed appreciative crowds which lined Queen Street Saturday (Dec. 8) to welcome Santa Claus to town.

The parade, organized by an independent committee headed by local television personality Martha Bishop, featured a bevy of high school marching bands, fire trucks with blaring horns, holiday church floats, television and newspaper personalities, horses, motorcycles, Shriners, Star Wars’ Darth Vader, with storm trooper, martial arts practitioners and a host of other attractions earning the rapt attention of the young and young at heart.

Santa, riding is his elegant carriage, drew the loudest applause from youngsters dreaming of toys piled high under Lenoir County’s Christmas trees on Christmas morning.

Even dogs like Santa...

County Commissioner Earl Harper being driven by community volunteer Steve Jefferson in his vintage MG....taken out of the garage on special occasions.

The first Holly Day Celebration, a street party held Tuesday (Nov. 27) to welcome the 2007 Christmas season, attracted a lively audience which enjoyed a stroll down Queen Street to pose with Snow White and Cinderella, to catch a ride on a toy train, to sample holiday refreshments and be treated to a festival of choral music.

The Moppets, childrens' chorus at the Arts Center and under direction of Melissa Burke, perform at the Lenoir County Courthouse to help launch the 2007 Holly Day Celebration on Nov. 27.

The street party began at 5:00 pm at the Lenoir County Courthouse with holiday music provided by choirs and bands, and the lighting of a new community Christmas tree. The “on switch” also triggered the lights on the holly trees which line Queen Street.

The new event for downtown was jointly sponsored by Pride of Kinston, the City of Kinston, Lenoir County, the Kinston-Lenoir County Chamber of Commerce, Parks and Recreation, the Community Council for the Arts, the Neuse Regional Library, the Queen Street Methodist Church and the Gordon Street Christian Church. Pride coordinated the event.

Banks Elementary School 5th grade chorus performs from the Holly Day Celebration Stage Nov. 27.

School choruses from throughout the county sang from a Celebration Stage set in the intersection of Queen and Gordon Streets. The participating sponsors offered an array of holiday refreshments in their respective offices, and a Christmas sing-a-long concluded the evening at the Queen Street Methodist Church.

Parks and Recreation Director Bill Ellis looks over the Holly Day Christmas tree in the Arts Council.