Christmas in Canton
Dec. 7th, 2008 04:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fourzoasSteve and I drove to Canton, MS, a small town north of Jackson, to check out their annual Victorian Christmas celebration.
Let me preface everything I'm about to say by pointing out that I am the product of a small town, have lived in other small towns, and I love many things about small towns. In a perfect world, I'd have two homes--one in Manhattan and one in Natchitoches. Big city. Small town.
Really, the festival was neither Victorian nor a festival*. The city of Canton has a lovely little square surrounded by a collection of the usual Main Street storefronts. On the square are a few giant lighted displays--Santa and his reindeer, toy shop, etc.
Here's a rocking horse:
There were a couple of rides for the kids--a carousel and something like a carousel with antique cars for horses. I got a couple of pics with those, but since I was using my phone, the pics are more of the blurry lights variety and will likely become icons.
The city also had a small train and horse-drawn carriage rides; they were expensive ways to essentially ride around the square. I didn't get any photos of those. I was too preoccupied by keeping an eye on the Forces of Darkness, as you'll see below.
The highlight for us was the animation museum, a display of the town's collection of antique toys and paraphrenalia divided into three seperate "stories" related to Christmas and/or Canton. Here's a description of the goals of the museum (of sorts):
Below the sign in the shop window, the usual assortment of creepy holiday dollies:
Each display was themed. One told the story of Mrs. Claus (who was, apparently, a veterinarian and met Santa when he brought the reindeer in for their annual checkup), one was a walk through 20th century American cultural history featuring a bunch of antiques from Canton's history, but the best was the museum display dedicated to the story of Santa's rise from lowly toymaker to wielder of universal power. Photos weren't allowed inside--not sure why, but I'll respect that--but I had to take a pic of this, consequences be damned!
This is the spaceship that carried the aliens that came down to earth to help Santa with his toy delivery. Trufax. I couldn't get up close, or you'd see that the alien inside looks a lot like the Slitheen. Little Blon has decided to embrace the spirit of giving.
Ahem. Back to the show.
So when we pulled up and parked, Steve noted that we were right next to what is arguably my biggest Christmas nemesis--the anthropomorphic reindeer topiary (ART--ooo, that worked out well, didn't it?). My first encounter with ART was in Snellville, where The Avenue (a big shopping center near Steve's house) placed three such reindeer near the sign at the very busy intersection. Something about the figures really bothered me--perhaps the fact that they were quite comfortably perched on their hind legs, asserting their potential to loom (literally, as they were quite large) over humanity? They seemed downright sinister to me (really) and he's been tormenting me with them ever since. So when I got out of the car, what's the first thing I saw?
Two ART forms, welcoming us and pointing the way to the festival. I was afraid to turn my back on them, but did so for the sake of my innards, which were getting colder by the minute. We walked through the display on the square, then crossed over to get our museum tickets where I discovered the problem in Canton was much worse than I'd imagined.
They're seated and having coffees. Noone was even remotely concerned about this; pedestrians just walked along, oblivious to the infiltration. The women selling the museum tickets inside the Visitor Center were clueless too, having let a couple of the beasties inside to entertain the tourists.
They've even infected the bears:
Steve got me through the worst of it, and when we were done with the museum, we passed a nice, normal tree with ornaments.
Afterward, we celebrated in the traditional Victorian way with Mexican food. We're all about tradition.
I really did enjoy the entire experience, although I much prefer the Festival of Lights in Natchitoches, which is much bigger and includes fireworks over the river.
*The word "festival" for me requires the presence of live music and/or fireworks. I grew up in Louisiana, where the festival is something of an artform. I have high standards.
Let me preface everything I'm about to say by pointing out that I am the product of a small town, have lived in other small towns, and I love many things about small towns. In a perfect world, I'd have two homes--one in Manhattan and one in Natchitoches. Big city. Small town.
Really, the festival was neither Victorian nor a festival*. The city of Canton has a lovely little square surrounded by a collection of the usual Main Street storefronts. On the square are a few giant lighted displays--Santa and his reindeer, toy shop, etc.
Here's a rocking horse:
There were a couple of rides for the kids--a carousel and something like a carousel with antique cars for horses. I got a couple of pics with those, but since I was using my phone, the pics are more of the blurry lights variety and will likely become icons.
The city also had a small train and horse-drawn carriage rides; they were expensive ways to essentially ride around the square. I didn't get any photos of those. I was too preoccupied by keeping an eye on the Forces of Darkness, as you'll see below.
The highlight for us was the animation museum, a display of the town's collection of antique toys and paraphrenalia divided into three seperate "stories" related to Christmas and/or Canton. Here's a description of the goals of the museum (of sorts):
Below the sign in the shop window, the usual assortment of creepy holiday dollies:
Each display was themed. One told the story of Mrs. Claus (who was, apparently, a veterinarian and met Santa when he brought the reindeer in for their annual checkup), one was a walk through 20th century American cultural history featuring a bunch of antiques from Canton's history, but the best was the museum display dedicated to the story of Santa's rise from lowly toymaker to wielder of universal power. Photos weren't allowed inside--not sure why, but I'll respect that--but I had to take a pic of this, consequences be damned!
This is the spaceship that carried the aliens that came down to earth to help Santa with his toy delivery. Trufax. I couldn't get up close, or you'd see that the alien inside looks a lot like the Slitheen. Little Blon has decided to embrace the spirit of giving.
Ahem. Back to the show.
So when we pulled up and parked, Steve noted that we were right next to what is arguably my biggest Christmas nemesis--the anthropomorphic reindeer topiary (ART--ooo, that worked out well, didn't it?). My first encounter with ART was in Snellville, where The Avenue (a big shopping center near Steve's house) placed three such reindeer near the sign at the very busy intersection. Something about the figures really bothered me--perhaps the fact that they were quite comfortably perched on their hind legs, asserting their potential to loom (literally, as they were quite large) over humanity? They seemed downright sinister to me (really) and he's been tormenting me with them ever since. So when I got out of the car, what's the first thing I saw?
Two ART forms, welcoming us and pointing the way to the festival. I was afraid to turn my back on them, but did so for the sake of my innards, which were getting colder by the minute. We walked through the display on the square, then crossed over to get our museum tickets where I discovered the problem in Canton was much worse than I'd imagined.
They're seated and having coffees. Noone was even remotely concerned about this; pedestrians just walked along, oblivious to the infiltration. The women selling the museum tickets inside the Visitor Center were clueless too, having let a couple of the beasties inside to entertain the tourists.
They've even infected the bears:
Steve got me through the worst of it, and when we were done with the museum, we passed a nice, normal tree with ornaments.
Afterward, we celebrated in the traditional Victorian way with Mexican food. We're all about tradition.
I really did enjoy the entire experience, although I much prefer the Festival of Lights in Natchitoches, which is much bigger and includes fireworks over the river.
*The word "festival" for me requires the presence of live music and/or fireworks. I grew up in Louisiana, where the festival is something of an artform. I have high standards.