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Grande Illumination kickoff events set for Friday

Annual children’s parade, tree-lighting among festivities.

Mary Yaegle of Huber Heights won last year's amateur gingerbread competition at the Dayton Holiday Festival and was asked to build a gingerbread replica of an

Chris Stewart/Dayton Daily News Staff Photogra Mary Yaegle of Huber Heights won last year's amateur gingerbread competition at the Dayton Holiday Festival and was asked to build a gingerbread replica of an "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" house that will be featured in the show's holiday special. A smaller version of that house will on display at this year's festival.

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By Katie Wedell, Staff Writer Updated 1:16 AM Thursday, November 24, 2011

DAYTON — The 39th annual Dayton Holiday Festival, which begins Friday with the Grande Illumination tree lighting on Courthouse Square and Children’s Parade Spectacular in Lights down Main Street, will feature many of the traditional events started by Virginia Kettering almost four decades ago.

“Mrs. Kettering started the festival with the idea that anyone, no matter their economic situation, could come out and celebrate the holidays,” said Krystal Luketic, special events coordinator for the Downtown Dayton Partnership which puts on the event.

She said Kettering’s vision can still be seen throughout the festival from the Schuster Center Tike’s Shop, a gift store run by kids for kids, to the newly refurbished, one-of-a-kind model train set on display in the Kettering Tower lobby through Jan. 2.  Carnival rides, live choral music, horse-drawn carriages and the popular “Dial-an-Elf” phone bank will all be part of the festival again. Though it has expanded through the years, the festival has remained free thanks to local sponsors, Luketic said.

First introduced last year, CareSource’s “magic glasses” will once again be handed out to the crowd prior to the tree-lighting. The spectacles turn each of the 50,000 colored lights on the tree and 100,000 lights that illuminate the parade floats into tiny twinkling snowflakes.

An extra-special gingerbread house will be part of the Gingerbread Homes for the Holidays Contest display inside the Old Court House. Last year’s winner in the amateur category, Mary Yaegle of Huber Heights, will be displaying a smaller version of a gingerbread house she created for the hit ABC reality show “Extreme Makeover Home Edition.”

In August, Yaegle was selected to build a 3-foot high replica of a home the crew was building in Columbus. She got to visit the set and meet the cast while they taped the holiday episode. A smaller version of that house, along with photos from the set, will be on display along with all of this year’s contest entries from 4 to 9 p.m.

The “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” episode featuring Yaegle’s creation is scheduled to air in December, but an exact date has not been announced.

“I’m really excited to see it on TV,” Yaegle said.

The United Rehabilitation Services employee said she builds gingerbread houses around the holidays as a hobby, but would love to start a small business making them for others. She also has her sights set on entering national gingerbread competitions.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2124.

How to go

What: The Grande Illumination and Dayton Children’s Parade Spectacular in Lights

Where: Activities center on Courthouse Square at Third and Main streets in downtown Dayton

When: Festivities are 4 to 9 p.m. Friday. The tree will be lit at 7:45 p.m. with the parade following directly afterward at approximately 8 p.m.

Festival: Activities continue throughout the month of December with some continuing through Jan. 2. Hours and dates vary. Visit downtowndayton.org for a calendar of events.

Weather: A coat should be all you need. Friday evening is expected to be mild with mostly clear skies. Temperatures will be in the upper 50s during the afternoon and drop into the upper 30s overnight.

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