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TIME FOR OLD WOODEN SHOES
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SONdance performs Dec. 4-5 in Ripon.

Ripon offers celebrations both faith & secular based

 

By GLENN KAHL

209 staff  reporter

The Bulletin

Old wooden shoes left on the stoop outside the front door for St. Nick has long been a Dutch Christmas tradition of old in the Ripon community with its many Dutch families.

Other family traditions in the Ripon will start with the lighting of a Christmas tree in Veterans’ Park on Monday, Nov. 30, starting XX p.,m. near the corner of Locust and First streets preceded with the caroling by local  families and the sharing of hot chocolate with neighbors and friends.  Some 250 are expected to attend the event.

And, of course, Santa will be making his first appearance in the park to the delight of the children who have come with their parents hoping to see the jolly old gent coming out of the shadows near the Veterans’ Museum.   The Ripon High School Band and the Ripon Christian High School Choir will be there to entertain  the crowd and fill them with Christmas spirit.

The Bethany Home Christmas Choir is scheduled to perform at Almond Valley Christian Reformed Church on Wednesday, Dec. 2, at 2 p.m.  A Christmas boutique is planned for the same church in the 400 block of Wilma Avenue on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 8:30 to 1:30. 

It’s time to wine down on Thursday, Dec.3, with the Ripon Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Ripo from 6 to 9 p.m.   Spend an evening strolling from business to business sampling food, beer, and wine in your commemorative wine glass provided by McManis Family Vineyards.  Once you are done strolling through the downtown shops, head over to Schemper’s Ace Hardware’s 10th Anniversary Party, where there will be more wine and food.

! Tickets are $35 and now available at the Ripon Chamber of Commerce.  Tickets are $15 for Designated Drivers.  You can purchase tickets in person at the Ripon Chamber of Commerce, 929 W. Main Street, Ripon, or you can purchase them over the phone by calling 209-599-7519.  If you purchase your tickets via telephone they will hold your tickets at Will Call (Memorial Library).  To attend this event you must be 21 years or older

On the evening of Friday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m. the San Joaquin Hospice will be having its own annual Christmas Tree lighting in the small park adjacent to the Mistlin Fountain at the southern entrance to the Ripon community near East Main Street and Highway 99.

SONdance Ministries will present “The Heart of Christmas” on Friday, Dec. 4, and Saturday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center, 435 Maple Ave., Ripon. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. For ticket sales or more information go to www.sondance.org or call 209.823.1740.

On Sunday, Dec. 6, at 3 p.m. the Ripon Ontario Society is presenting its 66th production of Handel’s Messiah at the Immanuel Christian Reformed Church with free admission offered to the Ripon community.  The church is located at the corner of Fourth Street and Orange Avenue.

It will be directed by Bob DeRuiter with organist  David Douma; pianist, Barbara Viss; soprano soloist, Dawn Peterson; tenor soloist, Joe Rykert; bass soloist, David Hess; trumpeter, Robert Stone.

This year’s production is being dedicated to the memory of the revered musician Ernie Buccio who suffered a massive stoke at the end of August and passed away. He had served as the director of the Messiah in Ripon for many years.

 

 

To contact Glenn Kahl email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.