CALICO ROCK — For one night a year, the Grinch, the March sisters from Little Women, Santa’s elves and early Arkansas settlers could be in town for the annual Christmas Living Windows in Calico Rock.
This year’s displays will begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and will close at 6:30, although the windows will remain decorated, as the Lighted Christmas Parade will kick off at 6:45.
Both events are sponsored by the Calico Rock Museum and Visitors Center, and admission is free.
The windows feature people in costume acting out a Christmas scene of their choosing, in a window fronting the town’s Main Street.
Gloriaann Sanders, executive director of the Calico Rock Museum Foundation, said the windows activity was started in 2013.
“Kim Meierdirk, owner of Wagon Wheel (an antique shop), came to me and told me they did this in Wisconsin and asked if we wanted to do it here,” Sanders said. “The first year, we started out with 10 windows, and now we have 13.”
That first year, Sanders said, the museum scrambled to fill the windows with props and people, including her. Since then, however, community interest has exploded to the point that every window is spoken for well in advance, and now Sanders said she doesn’t have to get inside a window but can view them from the sidewalk with the crowds.
“The goal was to bring people together for the season, and it was a gift the Calico Rock Museum was giving to the community for Christmas,” Sanders said.
She said the windows are different every year, except for the previous year’s winner, who is asked to re-create the winning display.
Some of the displays seen over the years include a North Pole workshop, featuring elves and Mrs. Claus; a Victorian-era dining room; and the characters from Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women, as well as from The Nutcracker ballet.
“It’s always something to look forward to,” Sanders said.
The windows’ themes are optional, as long as as they reflect something about the season, she said. “We leave it up to the people who want to do a window.”
She said that two years ago, the museum began offering prizes for winners selected by the visitors.
“We don’t have a committee who picks it, so it’s a ‘People’s choice’ type of award,” Sanders said. First-place winners earn a trophy, and certificates are given to second- and third-place finishers.
Kim Parnell, former owner of the Printing Press Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor, works in guest services at the museum and is Sanders’ assistant. Parnell said the living-windows event “really brings the community together.”
“We did A Hobo Christmas the first year I was involved with it,” she said. “A co-worker and I dressed up as hobos, put charcoal on our faces and ate out of tin cans. We had a train whistle, too, because that is part of Calico’s history. The train is what built this town, right after the steamboats. That’s how we got our supplies here, and it let us travel to other places and see what other places are like.”
Parnell said that another year, the event featured a gingerbread window, with little girls making gingerbread houses.
“You’re not really supposed to interact with the public, but the public really liked the window and waved at the girls, and some would wave back,” she said. “It was really cute.”
One time the group was building a giant Christmas present, and Parnell had to call in a professional carpenter “because my duct tape, motivation and perspiration weren’t enough,” she said with a laugh. “He didn’t charge me anything. There’s just a sense of a community here — when people see us struggling, they step in and help out.”
Parnell said this is the biggest event the museum hosts.
“We don’t get any money for it — it’s just something we do to give back to the community,” she said.
Sanders said attendance for the Christmas Living Windows varies anywhere from 500 to 900 people, which she said is remarkable for a town with a population of 1,545.
“I couldn’t believe how many people come to the event, and of course, they always stick around for the parade,” Parnell said. “There are people who come all the way from Texas specifically for this, but I always see some familiar faces, too, for sure.”
The community was shook to its core this year when one of its own, Sgt. Mike Stephen of the Stone County Sheriff’s Office, was killed in the line of duty on July 18. Stephen was responding to a domestic disturbance when he was shot and died at the scene.
This year’s parade is dedicated to Stephen, and the museum will pay tribute to him in one window with photos and memorabilia.
Stephen, who was also the Pineville fire chief, was instrumental in moving the Calico Rock Christmas Parade to the same time as the living windows.
“Pineville and Calico are like sister cities,” Sanders said. “[Calico Rock] has been doing a Christmas parade since the 1920s,” but it was typically held during the day. Stephen advocated combining the parade with the living windows and making it a lighted parade.
The Pineville Fire Department leads the parade down Main Street, while Calico Rock’s firefighters conclude the march by giving Santa Claus a ride atop one of the department’s firetrucks.
Sanders encourages everyone to come out and take advantage of the opportunity, in some cases, to see history re-enacted.
“Many kids have not seen the things that are in the windows, and the community gains a stability from it as well. You see neighbors who generally don’t speak because they’re so busy, but they will stop and visit on Main Street, relax and have fun,” Sanders said.
For more information, visit www.calicorockmuseum.com or call (870) 297-6100.