By Hanna Singh
The holidays are coming to Ruston.
At their annual Holiday Press Conference, Experience Ruston announced the official kickoff to the 2024 holiday season. In partnership with the Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights, Experience Ruston shared details about upcoming holiday events in Lincoln Parish, as well as holiday announcements from around North Louisiana.
Kicking off the press conference, Ruston Main Street Director and Community Coordinator Amy Stegall shared a sentiment about the hometown feel of Ruston Louisiana, expressing her excitement to share the holiday fun with visitors this year. She encouraged visitors to come support local businesses, vendors and restaurants in Lincoln Parish. Stegall shared a bit about what makes Downtown Ruston so special during the holiday season.
“When we turn on the lights in downtown, something magical happens to this place,” said Stegall. “This is a historic place that’s been here since the late 1800s, and it just becomes this little Hallmark village. People love to come down and shop with the people they know and just find incredible treasures for the people that they love. So, whether you eat here, shop here or just come and walk around the lights, it just has a feeling that you can’t really put into words. So, we love that it’s our hometown.”
In partnership with Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights, Experience Ruston Director of Marketing and Communications Tori Davis shared some of the exciting holiday activities that will be happening is Ruston over the next few weeks. Many local partners and businesses will be hosting holiday events, all included on Experience Ruston’s holiday calendar. Davis highlighted some of the larger events, including the Holiday Open House, Lincoln Lights Up the Pines, Ruston Community Theater’s production of “White Christmas”, and the Holiday Arts Tour.
“We are so fortunate to have such passionate and dedicated partners here in Ruston and Lincoln Parish,” Davis said. “We have something happening every single week, and often multiple things happening throughout the week. There are so many events that you won’t want to miss.”
Reflecting on the work that goes into bringing the holidays to Lincoln Parish, Mayor Ronny Walker thanked many of the organizations, community members and workers who dedicated their time to making Ruston so beautiful during the season.
“It takes a village, or in this case a city,” said Walker. “Amy (Stegall) does an incredible job with our main street and our merchants downtown. Amanda (Carrier) and Tori (Davis) with the CVB help tremendously with publicity, ads, and events like this. I think the group that is often left out is the group of about 30 people from the city that put up all the lights. They actually started this process about 5 weeks ago and they come in early to try to get all this up.
“So, I want to say a big shoutout to our city workers, from electrical department to the street department. Everybody in the city pitches in because it takes so many people to do all this. Especially thank you to the Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Main Street and the merchants.”
Several other groups from the Louisiana Holiday Trail of Lights group spoke and invited the community to experience the holidays in North Louisiana. Speakers included guests from Discover Monroe-West Monroe, Visit Shreveport-Bossier and Visit Webster Parish.
Visitors and community members can find out more about the holiday events in Lincoln Parish by picking up an Experience Ruston Official Holiday Guide from the visitor’s center at 2111 N Trenton St. Or you can view the holiday calendar online at www.rustonlincoln.com. Let your heart be light this season and come experience the joy of the holidays in Ruston and Lincoln Parish.