About — Christmas in July Festival

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A hometown street festival in the heart of downtown West Jefferson, NC, featuring handmade arts and crafts, traditional mountain music, food & family fun

About the festival

Sharing our Mountain Heritage! The Christmas in July Festival is one of the best, old fashioned summer festivals in the South drawing thousands to historic West Jefferson, NC each July! The Festival began in 1987 as a celebration of the Christmas Tree Industry Ashe County, NC is known for. In 2015, Ashe County, NC was named the #1 Christmas Tree producer in the United States. The Festival is a free-admission event held in Downtown West Jefferson featuring the very best in traditional mountain music, handmade arts & crafts vendors throughout the region while still celebrating the Christmas Tree industry. Numerous food vendors feature a variety of the infamous delicious festival foods & more.

Children's activities, roving performers, fun competitions, non-profits and the Farmers' Market are also part of the festival each year.

Nowhere else will you find such an excellent array of local & regional music, food vendors, fun and festivities for the entire family than at Christmas in July in Downtown West Jefferson! Hope to see you there!

The Christmas in July Festival is recognized as a 501C-3 nonprofit organization with the IRS. The Christmas in July Festival committee is comprised of various community members, on a solely volunteer basis, who all have a common interest in making this festival great. Our committee members and our Board of Directors do not receive any compensation for being part of this organization. Any interested parties can join our committee and/or attend our meetings. Volunteers are hard to come by and we certainly welcome you as it takes a lot of work to put this festival on each year!

FAQs

The Festival is called Christmas in July because it highlights the Ashe County Christmas Tree Industry, which is nationally known. The festival has always been held the first weekend in July, hence the word “July” in its name.
○ The festival is not an entirely Christmas themed event, but you can indeed find hints of Christmas sprinkled within our craft vendors, decorated Christmas trees (with a patriotic spin), as well as a visit from Santa!
The festival will have Children’s Activities at the Ashe Arts Council booths, at the East end of Main St. There will be face painting & several activities at the Arts Council’s booth, roaming street performers including magic, balloons, stilt walking & more! Oh, and Santa will be visiting!
We ask that you refrain from bringing pets.
Remember, the festival is on the street and the hot pavement that can harm your pet’s paws! On a sunny day of only 77 degrees F, asphalt can get up to 125 degrees F! (according to Journal of AMA) If you can’t hold your hand on asphalt for more than 8 seconds without it hurting you, it’s probably too hot for your pet!
Service Dogs are permitted.
There are several free public parking lots within walking distance to the festival.
Some private parking lots are used as fundraisers for local organizations and church groups during the festival and may charge a fee. Reference the festival map on our website for all parking areas.