After a flurry of activity and clouds of glitter, the Governor's Mansion is ready for the Christmas season. Staff and volunteers spent three days readying the mansion, which will open to the public 2-4 p.m. Sunday for a Christmas open house.
The theme for the decorations, The Carols of Christmas, could be seen everywhere from the front door with gold instruments and bells entwined in garlands of evergreens to the foyer with trumpeting angels and the Grand Hall's giant tin-horn toting nutcrackers. Volunteers and staff were busy painting giant ornaments and a plywood Santa and his sleigh, which will hang in the hall, while other folks on ladders and scissor lifts decorated mantels and mirrors.
New this year is a Candy Shop where the Governor's Mansion Association will sell sweets and pastries during the open house. First lady Susan Hutchinson picked a mockingbird -- Arkansas' state bird -- perched in a Christmas wreath for a special retail ornament meant to raise money for the association.
The Christmas open house will be on a trolley route that is also making stops at holiday events at the Historic Arkansas Museum, Mosaic Templars Cultural Center and the Old State House Museum.
High Profile on 11/29/2015