Photo courtesy of Marci Hackbarth.
PTO presidents and members from Oak Mountain Schools at a planning event for Christmas on the Mountain.
After watching too many Hallmark Christmas movies, Oak Mountain High School PTO president Marci Hackbarth had an idea for a Christmas event in the Oak Mountain community.
“I thought, if the people in those movies can pull together Christmas parades and events in three days, I thought we should be able to do so in six months,” Hackbarth said.
She said that she knew others in the community have wanted something like this in their area for some time. Hackbarth’s idea was to bring the community together in a central space for a holiday event, and this month, her idea will come to fruition.
Christmas on the Mountain will be held Thursday, Dec. 1, from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at Heardmont Park on U.S. 119.
The planning process began before the 2021-22 school year ended. Hackbarth reached out to the PTO presidents of all the Oak Mountain schools and Mt Laurel Elementary, so the schools would be involved and share leadership of the event and provide hands to help. Each of the different schools decided on their own ways to contribute.
“I thought, ‘What if we worked with Heardmont Park and do a tree lighting ceremony there?’” she said. “Oak Mountain doesn't really have a city center or community gathering spot, so we’re trying to create it with this event. I knew this needed to be an all-encompassing, area-wide event.”
Mandee McDonald, co-president of the Inverness Elementary PTO, came on board and Hackbarth said she totally embraced the idea, even creating the Christmas on the Mountain logo.
Hackbarth said she also worked with Shelby County Tourism & Events Director Kendall Williams, who was a huge supporter of the event and shared her ideas and directions on how to handle different things.
I’m hoping there’ll be more events throughout the year that bring the whole community together, not just the schools.
Mandee Mcdonald
A 16-foot Christmas tree will be lit at the beginning of the evening. There will be live performances from local schools and students on the stage every 15 minutes.
Santa will arrive on a golf cart and be led by Inverness Elementary’s winning scarecrow class. He will light the tree and then be at the Heardmont Senior Center for photos.
There will also be more than 20 vendors selling items, along with inflatables, a petting zoo, a craft tent and food trucks.
“We really want it to be an annual thing every year,” Hackbarth said. “We’d love to add a parade or a parade of trees. We have lots of ideas and would love to see this expand.”
McDonald said this event will be nice, so guests can enjoy an evening spending time together without being in a rush.
“I'm hoping there’ll be more events throughout the year that bring the whole community together, not just the schools,” McDonald said.
The vendor deadline is Nov. 30 and to sign up, visit the “Christmas on the Mountain” Facebook page for more information.
