Vista Lights: Congaree Vista

Tonight! Thursday November 17, 2011

Vista Lights offers an great way to kick-off the holiday Season. Kick off your holiday shopping and fun at the Vista's 26th annual holiday street party. Click through to check out a list of the restaurants and shops that will be in attendance for Vista Lights 2011! Visit the Vista Guild's site for details.

Gingerbread Cocktail Reception and Auction: EdVenture Children's Museum

Friday November 18, 2011

The gingerbread houses that were constructed during the 2nd Annual Gingerbread House Design Build Competition will be auctioned off with all proceeds benefitting the Children’s Trust of South Carolina and EdVenture. The event will be at EdVenture Children’s Museum from 7-10pm. Tickets are $40 each and can be purchased at their website. www.aiacolumbia.org.

The 44th Annual Columbia Gem & Mineral Show: Jamil Temple

Friday November 18, 2011 - Sunday November 20, 2011

This wonderful show features an enormous variety of materials from rough and cut gemstones, beads, fossils, finished jewelry, wire wrapping, lapidary supplies, and excellent mineral specimens. Dealers carry amber, jade, gold, all precious gemstones, and several jewelers can complete special orders, and much, much more. In addition, the Columbia Gem & Mineral Society will have geodes from Mexico that will be for sale at the entrance to the Jamil Temple. We will let you select and we will cut the geode for you. They may contain quartz, amethyst, smoky quartz, or calcite. We will also have a salted mine where for $1.00 a scoop, you can find crystals, fossils, rocks and minerals. You can “dig” for treasures that the Gem club provides. We can tell you where the minerals and treasures came from. Fun for rock enthusiasts, kids of all ages and those looking for unique holiday gifts. For details, visit the Columbia Gem & Mineral Society website.

Historic Holiday House Museum Tours at Historic Columbia Foundation

Friday November 18, 2011 - Saturday December 31, 2011

TEN family-friendly holiday events are planned, including Holiday tours of their beautifully decorated historic house museums. Holiday tours will be offered November 18 – December 31 at the Robert Mills House, Hampton-Preston Mansion, and Mann-Simons Site. Guides will provide stories of holidays past in Columbia and discuss how families decorated and entertained during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Visitors will enjoy a variety of holiday decorations in each house and stunning details of faux food on display. In addition to house tours, holiday events include a Homeschool Fridays: Historic Holidays (December 2), Scout Day: Historic Holidays (December 3), FREE Choir Showcase (December 10), FREE Toy Roadshow (December 17), FREE Candlelight tours (December 15 and 16), Breakfast with Victorian Santa Claus (December 17), Dollar Sundays (December 18), and Early Adventures, a program designed especially for private groups of children (month-long, ages 3-8 years old). More information at Historic Columbia Foundation or by phone at 803.252.1770 ext. 24.

Nature and the Grand American Vision - Masterpieces of the Hudson River School Painters: Columbia Museum of Art

Saturday November 19, 2011 - April 1, 2012

Forty-five magnificent paintings from the rich collection of the New-York Historical Society are on view at the Columbia Museum of Art beginning this weekend, in a major traveling exhibition Nature and the Grand American Vision: Masterpieces of the Hudson River School Painters. Though individual works are very seldom loaned, these iconic works of 19th-century landscape painting are traveling on a national tour for the first time and are circulating to four museums around the country as part of the Historical Society's traveling exhibitions program Sharing a National Treasure. The Columbia Museum of Art is the first stop in the South. During the second quarter of the nineteenth century, a loose-knit group of artists and writers — who collectively became known as the “Hudson River School” — forged the first American landscape vision and literary voice. That vision, still widely influential today, saw the natural world as a source of spiritual renewal and an expression of an emerging national identity. It was first expressed through the majestic scenery of the Hudson River Valley. Don't miss your opportunity to experience these awe-inspiring pieces. Visit the Columbia Museum of Art website for details.

2011 Christmas Craft Show and Holiday Bazaar: Lexington Middle School (Little Gym)

Saturday November 19, 2011

From 8am til 2pm, find unique holiday gifts as over 30 crafters and vendors from around the Midlands will offer wood to wool, jewelry, accessories and much more. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Harvest Hope Food. Visit the Christmas Craft Fair facebook page for more info.

Artisan Fair and Sale: Columbia Museum of Art

Saturday November 19, 2011

Kicking off the holiday season in style, the Columbia Museum of Art Museum Shop hosts its largest ever annual Holiday Artisans’ Fair and Sale, Saturday, November 19 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., and boasts a dizzying array of handmade jewelry, ceramics, textiles, pine needle baskets, scarves, gourd birdhouses, ornaments and more in a wide range of styles, designs and pricing. This annual event attracts scores of curious shoppers anxious to pounce on bargains for their holiday lists. Complimentary gift-wrapping is available, and this year, shoppers have the convenience of a second checkout station for quick and easy purchasing. Click the art museum's link for details.

Lights Before Christmas: Riverbanks Zoo and Garden

Saturday, November 19, 2011 - December 30, 2011

Bring the kids and the camera and see why Lights Before Christmas has continued as a family tradition for more than 20 years.

• Nearly one million twinkling lights *
• Countless animated images *
• Dazzling Music in Motion Lights Spectacular *
• Nightly visits with Santa—through December 23 *

Note: Closed Thanksgiving Day

Children's Garden Christmas and Kid's Walk

Monday November 21, 2011 - January 1, 2012

The City of Orangeburg invites you to experience the most breathtaking display of lights you will ever see.

The Children’s Garden Christmas, a drive through display located in the beautiful Edisto Memorial Gardens, hosts thousands of lights including still and animated displays such as Old Man Winter, a river boat, Santa and his elves, a Nativity Scene, and more than 60 lighted cherry trees.

Enjoy a stroll through the Kid’s Walk which features interactive displays including a hopping bunny, a squirrel running up a tree, and colorful Christmas trees. Be sure to visit the Twelve Days of Christmas display during your time on the walk.

Open seven days a week | Free admission
Children’s Garden Christmas: 5:00pm-10:00pm
Kid’s Walk: 5:00pm-9:00pm