Daniel Prince
Mark your calendar for Thursday, November 17
At Tuesday’s Union City Council meeting, council agreed to donate $5000 to the Downtown Merchants Association’s annual Downtown Christmas Open House event, scheduled each year on the Thursday before Thanksgiving. This year, the event will fall on Thursday, November 17. Dr. Dan O’Shields, owner of Antiques on Main, made the presentation on behalf of the merchants’ group, and Union County Tourism Director Curtiss Hunter also spoke to the council about the event. O’Shields said last year’s event saw 500 people or more coming downtown for the event, enjoying the entertainment and shopping at the downtown merchants and from the 30 local vendors on the street. O’Shields said the group is hoping to expand its publicity for the event this year, and he talked about some highlights of the event:
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O’Shields stated that they may have to rent a couple of sound systems for the performances this year, as the ones they used last year were barely adequate. Curtiss Hunter noted that for the amount of work that goes into putting up the tree and the lights and everything that goes into the Main Street decorations each year, the 30 or so days following Thanksgiving isn’t long enough to showcase them. The downtown merchants have always used the open house event as a way to kick-start their holiday sales. Again, this year’s Union Main Street Holiday Kickoff event will be Thursday, November 17, from 5-8 p.m.
In one other note from Tuesday’s meeting, seven employees were recognized for September work anniversaries with the city. Scotty Silvers was honored for 26 years with the warehouse. Jerome Beatty has spent 23 years with the Public Safety Department. Jerry Plemons was recognized for 17 years with the city shop. Matt Rawls has worked 13 years at the water plant. Daniel Robertson was honored for 9 years with the wastewater department. Jimmy Davis has spent 8 years with the gas department, and Steven Walton has put in 5 years at the water plant.