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Holiday event returns for second-year

For the second-year in a row, the Bains Orchard Christmas Festival will welcome community members to the longtime Hillsboro orchard for a holiday celebrations for all-ages 3-8 p.m. Saturday Dec. 2.

Located at 2163 Bains Road, guests are welcome to enjoy holiday staples like Christmas lights, carolers, pictures with Santa all mixed in with a vendor market and food trucks.

Co-owner Johnathan Graf said that it has been nearly two years since he purchased the orchard along with his parents and uncle.

“We felt like we just needed a way to give back to the community and get them back out to the property and so we kind of settled on, let’s have a Christmas festival,” he said. “We have this big barn, let’s get a few vendors out in the barn, let’s sell Christmas gifts and let’s decorate for Christmas and have people come out and just enjoy the season.”

While there were expectations for a much smaller event with perhaps about 100 neighbors and community members dropping by, the family welcomed 25 craft vendors and about 1,000 people to Bains Orchard for the 2022 Christmas Festival.

“We had such a great time at it and the people who came gave us such positive feedback, we were like, well this can’t be a one-time thing,” Graf said.

Like last year, Santa Claus will be available for photos, but this year he will be joined by Mrs. Claus.

“We have a professional photographer that does those photos and he was a big hit this past year,” Graf said. “We even had people calling us asking us if they could rent our Santa for their event.”

Graf said vendors are still being sought for the Christmas Festival, and those interested can email bainsorchard@gmail.com.

“It is just a real fun experience for everybody to be out there in the evening hours and under the Christmas lights and bonfire in the yard to stand around,” Graf said. “Really just to kind of celebrate that community spirit at the orchard.”

The cost to attend the Christmas Festival is $5 per vehicle.