Category: family

“Once Upon a Holiday” Brings a Fairytale Winter to Downtown Mount Vernon

Downtown Mount Vernon is getting ready to sparkle—fairytale style. Lacey Filkins, Executive Director for Experience Mount Vernon, recently sat down with WNZR’s Marcy Rinehart to share everything we can expect from this year’s Winter in Downtown theme: “Once Upon a Holiday.” Think whimsical storefronts, magical parade floats, and that cozy, storybook feeling that only small-town holidays can deliver.

Click HERE to hear the full conversation!

Small Business Saturday: Shop Local, Find Treasures

The celebration kicks off with Small Business Saturday, which Lacey describes as part shopping event, part treasure hunt. The goal is simple: support the heart of Mount Vernon—our small businesses and local shop owners. Many stores downtown will be open and offering surprises throughout the weekend.

Sunday’s Holiday Parade & Downtown Festivities

Sunday’s schedule is packed with charm and activity.

  • The Holiday Parade begins at 4 PM, running north and ending at Public Square.
  • With 52 entries—including floats, trucks, and of course, horses—it’s shaping up to be one of the biggest parades yet.
  • Parade judges will be out selecting winners for several award categories, each supported by local sponsors.

For safety, visitors are asked not to park downtown due to the number of horses, vehicles, and people involved. The best viewing spots? South Main Street and around the Square.

Free Photo Booth Fun

From 1–6:30 PM, stop by the lower level of the Mount Vernon Grand for a free photo booth experience—complete with themed props provided by community sponsors. It’s a great chance to capture those holiday memories with friends and family.

Lighting of Public Square & Santa Sightings

Immediately after the parade—around 5 PM—the community will gather for the lighting of Public Square. Santa himself will help flip the switch to kick off the season.

You can also snag free photos with Santa:

  • Sunday, after the lighting ceremony until 7 PM
  • Wednesday, December 10, from 5:30–7 PM, both at the Mount Vernon Grand

If you’d like to give back, you can bring Food for the Hungry donations to designated collection points downtown. FFTH will also be represented with a parade float.

Festival of Lights Returns

Another much-loved tradition is back: the Festival of Lights.

  • Registration to participate is open until December 8.
  • Community voting happens December 12–14.
  • You can vote and view the full map of participating homes and displays at: experiencemv.org/2025-festival-of-lights.

Lacey also explained a few voting guidelines to keep things fair and fun for everyone.

Rain Plan

If Sunday’s parade gets rained out, it will be rescheduled to the following weekend. However, the lighting ceremony will still take place Sunday night, rain or shine.

A Look Ahead

Before wrapping up, Lacey shared gratitude for Experience Mount Vernon’s partners and team members whose work makes all these events possible. She also hinted at big things coming in 2026, including First Fridays and celebrations tied to America’s 250th birthday.

To stay connected, follow Experience Mount Vernon on social media or visit their website for updates, volunteer opportunities, and event announcements.

This season, Mount Vernon isn’t just celebrating the holidays—it’s stepping right into a storybook. And you’re invited to be part of every chapter.

Click HERE to learn more about Winter in Downtown!

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Traditions are a major Centerpiece of Thanksgiving!

From cheering on parade floats and football games to watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and cooking up family favorites, everyone has their own way of making Turkey Day feel special.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, the WNZR staff thought it’d be fun to share some of their favorite traditions.

Click HERE to hear the staff’s traditions!

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

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Pop-up food distributions are happening!

We sat down with Austin Swallow, the Food For The Hungry Board President! They are getting started early this year by helping families with some pop-up food distributions in our community.

Austin tells us the motivation behind these events and he gives us the details on one happening very soon! He also talks about the upcoming Food For The Hungry Drive happening in December.

To learn more about FFTH click HERE!

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Make Thanksgiving even better this year!

Today on The Morning Thing, Marcy and Xander explored some great ways to take Thanksgiving to the next level! These are tips that will make you and your family love the holiday even more.

Some of our favorites:

  • Start a New Tradition
  • Combine Travel with a Tourist Activity
  • Choose a Friends-giving or a self-giving act

To view the full list click HERE! You won’t regret it!

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Thanksgiving is 1 week away! Are you ready?

Today, The Morning Thing shared some great advice on how to prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Here are some great tips that we found online to help you plan ahead and be ready to enjoy this special holiday.

🛒 1. Plan and Shop

  • Finalize your menu. Decide exactly what dishes you’ll serve (and what guests might bring).
  • Make a detailed grocery list. Include all ingredients, drinks, and supplies like foil, plastic wrap, and napkins.
  • Do your big grocery run. Get non-perishables, frozen items, and anything that can store well for a week. (Avoid the last-minute rush!)
  • Order your turkey. If you haven’t yet, make sure it’s purchased or reserved.

🦃 2. Prep the Turkey

  • If you bought a frozen turkey, move it to the fridge to thaw — it can take up to 4–5 days depending on the size.
  • Check you have a roasting pan, thermometer, and carving knife.

🍽️ 3. Get Your Kitchen Ready

  • Clean out the fridge to make space for ingredients and leftovers.
  • Sharpen knives and clean cookware, baking sheets, and serving dishes.
  • Label serving platters or sticky-note them (“mashed potatoes here,” “stuffing here”) to stay organized.

🏡 4. Prepare Your Home

  • Clean main areas (kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, entryway).
  • Plan table seating and décor. Make sure you have enough chairs, plates, glasses, and utensils.
  • Set aside time to decorate — candles, fall centerpieces, or a festive tablecloth go a long way.

🕒 5. Plan the Timeline

  • Create a cooking schedule for the week and Thanksgiving Day. (e.g., pies the day before, casseroles in the morning, turkey in at noon.)
  • Make a to-do list for each day leading up to the holiday.

👪 6. Coordinate with Guests

  • Confirm who’s coming and what time they’ll arrive.
  • Double-check who’s bringing what dishes or drinks.
  • Plan for any dietary needs (vegetarian, gluten-free, etc.).

🍰 7. Start Early Prep

  • Make and freeze pie dough, casseroles, or rolls if possible.
  • Chop veggies ahead of time and store them in labeled containers.
  • Prepare any make-ahead dishes like cranberry sauce or gravy base.
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Byron Saunders Foundation Helps Give Thanksgiving Meals to Families in Need

Ginny Williams talked with WNZR’s Eric Brown about the Byron Saunders Foundation and some of it’s history.

Click HERE to hear the full conversation!

It started in 2003 with only 20 meals and its grown so much. It started with the idea of just helping families have meals and it’s grown to be such a large part of Thanksgiving. It just started with people checking on neighbors and now it gone beyond that to a widespread to reach families and have a meal on Thanksgiving.

Ginny talks about how families can get a meal for Thanksgiving. All you have to do is either call or text to get a full boxed meal and certificate to get meats for Thanksgiving by calling 740-324-9503 to help get signed up.

The last pickup for the year is this Saturday, November 22nd at their new facility at Habitat for Humanity in Mount Vernon.

She also talks about ways you can help support their work through donations and volunteering. The Knox County community has been very supportive, and they’ve been so blessed with smaller groups who’ve done food drives with a small list of things they need for their meal boxes. They sell tickets at the Knox County Fair and she explains how the community helps with that as well as other fundraisers run to help them as well as the Food for the hungry who helps support them as well as so many others.

She also thanks Habitat for Humanity and their help by giving them a permanent location and they’re so thankful for having a location and not having to go from place to place to try to keep working all year. She’s so thankful for the community support to keep this foundation working.

She talks about the goals for the community to end the season, they need volunteers for the ticket booth at the Knox County fairgrounds. If you see something for their foundation, put some nonperishable food in there like cans, or call their number.

They have food that needs to be delivered for them if you have time to help them and helping people who can’t go to get their turkey.

Click HERE to find out more about the Byron Saunders Foundation.

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Tragedy Into Triumph Founder Previews Upcoming Event

Wendell Brown is the North Central Ohio leader for the church of the Nazarene and the Founder and CEO of Tragedy into Triumph. He sat down with WNZR’s Xander Devault to talk about his own history and how he started Tragedy into Triumph.

Click HERE to hear the full conversation with Wendell!

He talks about what Tragedy into triumph does and how they bring in miraculous stories, they’ve brought in people dealing with loss, addiction, and convictions to tell their story and how Jesus saved them.

Wendell talks about how Tragedy into Triumph bring hope to people. The event takes place on November 3-5 at 7 for free. Monday night is Mark Richt, Tuesday is Riley Gaines, and Wednesday is Michael Oher and Wendell talks about why they chose who they did for the event.

The mission of Tragedy into Triumph is that God still transforms lives. He shares how God has been using them to work with over 900 churches and podcasts to share what God is doing in the lives of their speakers.

He talks about how you can get access to the simulcast. He encourages you to attend the event in person on November 3-5 at R.R. Hodges chapel on MVNU. He asks that you pray for everything to come together and that the people who need to be there will be there.

Click HERE to stay connected with Tragedy into Triumph!

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Are you ready for some Fall FUN with your family?

Today on The Morning Thing, we shared 20 different ways to spend some quality time together as a family. This list of great ideas comes from Crosswalk.com

Click HERE to see the full list.

Here are some of our favorites:

* Host a Family Movie Night

Everybody loves family movie night. Typically, there is a theme like all the movies in a series or even a certain genre. 

* Cook Together

Cook a cozy, comforting meal together. We all know that family dinner time is important, so make it more special by preparing a meal together. Think meatloaf and mashed potatoes, cozy casseroles, and comforting soups. You could even try a recipe or two that you’ve never made before to shake things up. It can be as extravagant or as simple as you wish. 

* Make a Thankful Wall

Get a whiteboard or bulletin board and hang it where everyone in the family can see it. Buy either dry-erase markers or post-it notes and push pins. Each week, have everyone write what they are thankful for so everyone can see it. Then on Friday nights at dinner, talk about your week and the things you are grateful for. 

* Go Out for Breakfast

Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, it’s also cheaper than going out to lunch or dinner. Get up early on a Saturday morning and head to your favorite breakfast joint. Don’t forget to keep an eye out online, in your email, and also your snail mail for coupons. You can also go directly to the website and see if there are any specials going on as well. Enjoy the restaurant’s fall specials, like pumpkin pancakes or pumpkin spice coffee.

* Attend a Fall Festival 

Do some research and see if there are any fall festivals in your town or neighboring towns. If so, spend the day together as a family. There will be lots of things to see and do, and it will do you good to be out in the crisp, fall air.

* Make S’mores

S’mores are a staple in the fall, so fire up the bonfire or fire pit and gather ‘round. However, you don’t always have to make the traditional graham cracker, marshmallow, and Hershey bar kind. There are tons of variations online. 

I have seen s’mores made with horizontal slices of granny smith apples with caramel melted in the middle. Chocolate chip cookies with marshmallows and a chocolate bar melted in the middle. And s’mores made with chocolate graham crackers, peppermint patties, and marshmallows in the middle. There are lots of delicious variations, so have fun. You could even make several kinds and have friends over to enjoy after family dinner. 

* Sleep Under the Stars

Pitch a tent or two and sleep under the stars one night as a family. Sit around the fire pit and talk, admire the moon and the stars, and thank God for his creation. Slow down and enjoy the surrounding nature.

Thanks to the author for these great ideas!
Carrie Lowrance is a freelance writer and author. She has had her work featured on Crosswalk, iBelieve, Huffington Post, and the Penny Hoarder. She is also the author of three children’s books, three clean romance books, one romance novella, three books of poetry, and one non-fiction book. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking and baking, reading, and hanging out with her husband, and sweet cat, Cupcake. You can find out more about Carrie and her writing at www.carrielowrance.com.

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Kristin Hankins tells us all about the Church at Chapel Hill Fall Fest!

WNZR talked with Kristin Hankins who is the 7th-12th Grade Supervisor at the Chapel Hill Christian Academy! She tells us all about their church and their fall fest that is coming up this Sunday. There will be music, games, activities and a bunch of candy!

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