Christmas Time Is Here: WT, Canyon Offer Full Schedule of Holiday Fun

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas all around West Texas A&M University and the city of Canyon.

President Walter V. and Mary Wendler invite the community to join WT students, faculty and staff at their annual Christmas reception and the Festival of Lights on Dec. 4, and activities will continue over the next several days.

The Wendlers' reception will run from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Dec. 4 in Legacy Hall inside the Jack B. Kelley Student Center. The party-which is open to the community, as well as WT donors-will offer hors d'oeuvres and a hot chocolate bar, plus music from the WT Jazz Quartet.

Immediately following the reception, the community is invited to attend the Festival of Lights around the Buffalo Fountain on the Charles K. and Barbara Kerr Vaughan Pedestrian Mall in the heart of the WT campus.

The Wendlers' reception and Festival of Lights are the kickoff to a busy weekend of holiday activities in Canyon.

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum's Christmas Open House will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 7, and Canyon Chamber of Commerce's Christmas in Canyon events will kick off at 4 p.m. Dec. 7, including the Parade of Lights at 6:30 p.m. around the downtown square, followed by the lighting of the Canyon Christmas tree.

Plus, the WT School of Music's annual holiday concert, "Walking in the Air," will be held at 4 and 7 p.m. Dec. 8 in Mary Moody Northen Recital Hall. The concerts are sold out, but they will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Dec. 24 and 9 p.m. Dec. 25 on Panhandle PBS. The performance will feature the WT Symphony Orchestra, the WT Choirs, WT Dance and Tascosa High School's Les Chanteurs.

Other upcoming holiday programming will include the WT Chamber Singers' Christmas concert at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 in Northen Recital Hall. Admission is free.

The highlight of the Festival of Lights is the official lighting of the WT campus. More than 180,000 bulbs will twinkle all around campus, a 56.5 percent increase over last year. Trees and shrubbery all around campus-including the towering American elms along 26th Avenue, the Freedom Tree, the Staff Memorial Tree, and the greenery around the Charles K. and Barbara Kerr Vaughan Pedestrian Mall-will be illuminated. Lit buildings will include Old Main, the JBK, the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex, Buffalo Courts, the Killgore Research Center, Cornette Library, the Engineering and Computer Sciences Building, the Physical Plant and the President's Home. Illuminated wreaths will be hung at the 23rd Street entrance to campus, the Old Main driveway and the First United Bank Center entrance.

The WT Chamber Singers will perform holiday music, then lead a singalong at the end of the festivities. Speakers will include President Wendler; Canyon Mayor Gary Hinders; WT Student Body President Kyal Browne, a junior agribusiness major from Waxahachie; and Ransom Colette, president of the Residence Hall Association and a senior mechanical engineering and mathematics major from Big Spring.

Santa Claus will arrive via a Canyon Fire Department firetruck and will be available for family photos.

Bucky will hand out red and green glow necklaces, and cookies, hot chocolate and cider will be served. Children can enjoy an obstacle course and bounce houses.

Participating student organizations include Hispanic Student Association, SpectrumWT, WT Theatre, the Companion Animal Club, the Mortar Board Honor Society, the Asian Pacific Islander Association, and others.

Festival of Lights began in 1990 and, other than 2020, has been held annually as the Residence Hall Association's longest-running tradition.

WT's relationship to the community is a critical maxim of the University's long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign's new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised more than $160 million.

About West Texas A&M University

WT, a Regional Research University, is redefining excellence in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT, a Hispanic Serving Institution since 2016, boasts an enrollment of more than 9,000 and offers 58 undergraduate degree programs, one associate degree, and 44 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor's and master's degree, a specialist degree and two doctoral degrees. The University is also home to the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, the largest history museum in the state and the home of one of the Southwest's finest art collections. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference and offers 14 men's and women's athletics programs.

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