A huge THANK YOU goes out to the Athens Uptown Business Association (AUBA) for planning and executing another successful year of Uptown for the Holidays! Special thanks is also given to the City of Athens, Les Cornwell/Cornwell Properties, and John Hutchinson/Hutchinson Horsedrawn Wagon and Carriage Service for their help coordinating the events.

The Uptown for the Holidays events have become a beloved Athens tradition that fills Uptown with a sense of holiday magic, and this year was no different. The Tree Lighting Ceremony, held this year on Friday, December 2nd, drew a huge crowd that was overflowing with holiday spirit. The event also included Athens City Mayor Steve Patterson accepting the “Best Hometown in Ohio” award from Ohio Magazine, to many cheers and celebration from the crowd.

Opening night was full of activities like ornament decorating, face painting, hot chocolate, holiday crafts, cookie decorating (and eating!) and more, and all activities were provided for FREE to the public by our amazing AUBA members, including: Athena Cinema, Bagel Street Deli, Brenen’s Coffee Café, Cross Court, Ohio is Home, College Bookstore, Brookfield Church, and Uptown Realty.

The holiday fun didn’t stop with opening night – on Thursdays and Saturdays throughout December, Santa was available at his workshop to great visitors, horsedrawn wagon rides were offered around Uptown, Athena Cinema showed holiday classics, and musical performances from local schools made Uptown Athens feel like it was the set of a quaint holiday movie.

Scroll down for a full list of event sponsors, to whom we are so grateful for helping to make 2022 Uptown for the Holidays another success!


Here are some special moments captured during our opening night:

 

 

And this year our annual tree lighting ceremony night was extra-special, as Athens was officially celebrated as being named the Best Hometown in Ohio by Ohio Magazine! You can see pictures from the awards ceremony here:

 

 

 

 

Thank you to our Community Tree Sponsor:

College Bookstore

Thank you to our Holiday Film Series Sponsors:

Thank you to our Wagon Ride Sponsors: