If you can’t find something to do this weekend in Granville County, you’re not looking very hard. Holiday activities are cranking up this evening with Jingle & Mingle in downtown Oxford.

More than a dozen retailers, merchants and restaurants are keeping their doors open tonight to give shoppers and diners an opportunity to make purchases or just relax over dinner, according to Angela Allen, Granville tourism director.

She told WIZS News Wednesday that some retailers that normally close by 5 p.m. will remain open until 7 tonight to take part in the event. Allen said some small businesses had to get make adjustments during the pandemic to stay afloat, and Jingle & Mingle is just one result – “helping some of these small businesses is important – every little bit helps,” Allen said.

Visit the following merchants during tonight’s event:

• Oxford ACE Hardware
• Daniel’s Flea Market
• Sheffine’s
• C Squared
• Huntsboro Hemp Company
• The Hub on Main NC
• Nan’s
• The Painted Ox
• Home Decorator Shoppe
• Main Street Fitness
• The Orpheum at Oxford
• Strong Arm Baking Company
• Small Town Toys and Games
• This ‘n That
• Tobacco Wood Brewing Co.
• 9 Forward

Carlee Farms, an event venue near Stem, is hosting a holiday marketplace on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. More than 30 vendors will be set up in the open-air facility to make Christmas shopping enjoyable and safe. Bring your cameras because Santa and his elves will be on hand to pose for photos. Also bring a toy to donate to charity for the Carlee Farms toy drive.

Then, it’s time to put on your fancy duds to attend the gala at the Orpheum in downtown Oxford Saturday evening. This black-tie event is for those 21 years and older and tickets are $75, two for $150. Proceeds benefit the Masonic Home for Children in Oxford. There will be heavy hors d’oeuvres and craft cocktails created by one of the state’s top mixologists. A silent auction will be set up with some great items to bid on.

Bring the whole family up to the northern end of Granville County on Sunday afternoon for the Grassy Creek Christmas Parade. It begins at 2 p.m. but get there early because the roadside gets crowded. The parade starts on Charlie Winston Road, and it’s a first-come, first-served parade line up. The best parking is at Grassy Creek Baptist Church, but the best viewing is right along the shoulder of the road, between the church and Charlie Winston Road along Grassy Creek-Virgilina Road.

“It’s definitely one of our most unique parades,” Allen said. “It’s not one of those traditional parades – there’s a little bit of everything in that parade.” There’s no downtown parade route because, well, there is no downtown in Grassy Creek. This parade is one you need to experience for yourself.

And speaking of experiences, Back to Bethlehem, the live nativity at Delrayno Baptist Church in Oxford, offers participants a glimpse at what that first Christmas may have looked like. The drive-through event begins at 6 p.m. and runs through 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday evenings Dec. 11-13.

People come from all around to participate, and Allen said it’s very realistic – it’s like you are driving through Bethlehem,” she said. A team of folks painstakingly map out that whole parking lot and re-create Bethlehem, complete with camels and other livestock of the day.

Check out details for these and other events at https://visitgranvillenc.com/whats-happening.