Lighting of the Quad Celebrates 2014 Christmas Season at Mississippi College

Mississippi College's Lighting of the Quad

Mississippi College leaders will invite the Clinton community to join the Christmas celebration at MC’s 2014 Lighting of the Quad.

The theme at the festive event on December 2 will be Candy Land Christmas. No doubt, there will be plenty of delicious treats to entice visitors starting at 8:30 p.m. that Tuesday evening. But there’s really much more happening on the Clinton campus.

“We will have a whimsical Christmas tree farm, the reading of the Christmas story, a life-sized gingerbread house as well as a gingerbread house competition between MC clubs and tribes,” says Dannie Woods, director of student engagement.

“The new and exciting thing is that the community is invited this year,” she said.

Residents of Clinton and nearby communities will embrace live holiday season music, sip refreshing hot chocolate and feel the Christmas spirit come alive as the Mississippi College campus is brightly illuminated.

Mississippi College events like the Lighting of the Quad are often linked to a good cause. And this year is no exception.

Sponsored by the Campus Activities Board, this year’s event will include the 4^th annual T-shirt drive to send to missions in Nicaragua. Clothing is badly needed in the 2^nd poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. Students will also sell T-shirts to benefit the Make A Wish Foundation.

In addition, Mississippi College will donate all of the Christmas trees decorating the Quad to needy families in the Magnolia State.

At last year’s Lighting of the Quad, there were about 500 T-shirts collected and distributed to poor people in Nicaragua.

Making the night a little more merry, jovial personalities from STAR 93.5, the university’s Christian radio station, are expected to join MC students to welcome guests on campus. The event is free.

The Lighting of the Quad comes just days before the university’s annual Festival of the Lights concerts featuring the award-winning MC Singers.

Sponsored by the Department of Music for nearly three decades, the concerts run from December 4-6 at historic Provine Chapel. Showcasing the sacred music of the Christmas season, the concerts begin each evening at 7:30 p.m.

Director of choral activities and voice professor Milburn Price will direct the MC Singers this year. A Mississippi native, Dr. Price is the former dean of the School of the Performing Arts at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

The concerts typically pack Provine Chapel, so it is best for patrons to order tickets in advance at the Music Department. People can contact Dottie Serio at 601-925-3440 or at Serio@mc.edu.

Ticket prices for each Festival of Lights performance are $15 for the general public, $10 for MC faculty and staff and $5 for children or students from any school with an identification card. Ticket information is also available at www.mc.edu/marketplace.