The public is invited to attend one or both holiday park lighting ceremonies scheduled for Friday in St. Joseph.

According to the City of St. Joseph Parks, Recreation, and Civic Facilities, the first ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. at Krug Park. Join the Mayor and city staff for a short presentation and to watch the kids help the Mayor transform Krug Park into Holiday Park at the flip of a switch. There will also be photo opportunities with the Apple Blossom court and light refreshments available. Stay after to drive or walk through the park or make your way to Hyde Park for the second ceremony.

The Hyde Park lighting ceremony begins at 7 p.m. with musical entertainment by the Hosea Elementary Handbell Choir, a visit from Santa and an opportunity for the children to help the Mayor flip the switch changing Hyde Park into the South Pole. Watch as the St. Joseph Bike club leads a small decorated parade around the park. Stay to visit with Santa, take photos with the Apple Blossom court, and walk around the winter wonderland.

Both events are free and open to the public.

After Friday, Holiday Park and the South Pole will be open from 6 to 10 p.m. each night through January 1st.

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University’s Madraliers will host their 45th annual Yuletide Feaste with an elegant royal banquet featuring performances by the Madraliers, the Recorder Consort and the Royale Brass Quintet.

“The Yuletide Feaste is a wonderful opportunity for members of the community to come to the Northwest campus and participate in a meaningful and special event with a distinguished history,” Dr. Brian Lanier, the Madraliers conductor and a Northwest professor of music, said. “The setting for the Feaste is unique to anything else that happens in the area and on campus. The food is absolutely fantastic and the overall experience is great. Many people come year after year and tell me that their holiday season begins with their attending the Yuletide Feaste.”

The Feaste will take place at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, and Saturday, Dec. 8, in the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom.

Tickets are $32 and may be purchased by check or cash in the main office of the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. Credit or debit card orders may be placed online at nwmissouri.edu/finearts/music/yuletide.htm.

Attendance is limited to 320 guests each evening, and all tickets are reserved. No tickets will be sold at the door.

At the Yuletide Feaste, guests celebrate and rediscover Christmas through the evening’s programs and festivities, highly stylized after old England. The menu, performances and decorations are reminiscent of 16th century Tudor England.

The menu includes bacon, bleu cheese and cranberry cheeseball with pecans, carved steamship of beef with au jus and horseradish cream sauce, slow-roasted pork loin with winter fruit and port wine sauce, green beans with mushrooms and bacon, roasted parsnips and sweet potatoes with honey-pecan drizzle, rolls with cranberry butter, and pumpkin mousse with bittersweet chocolate sauce and ginger caramel crunch.

The Madraliers choral ensemble is a select group, consisting of 35 undergraduate students representing a variety of disciplines and majors at Northwest. In recent years, the choir has been invited to perform for prestigious choral organizations, including the American Choral Directors Association and the Missouri Music Educators Association. During the spring, the same students become Celebration, the show choir for the University.

For more information about the Yuletide Feaste, contact the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at (660) 562-1326.

– Northwest Missouri State University Press Release –

By SARAH THOMACK
St. Joseph Post

When Mothers Against Drunk Driving Heartland Chapter Volunteer Leader Leann Lewis ties a red ribbon on her vehicle, it’s in memory of her dad.

“On September the 11th of 2008, my dad was traveling to his house and just a few miles before he reached his home, a drunk driver crossed the centerline and hit his vehicle head-on and killed him,” said Lewis. “After that, I just really became involved with MADD because I never wanted any daughter to ever experience getting that phone call in the middle of the night, driving to the hospital and learning that their dad was no longer with them.”

MADD Heartland kicked off the “Tie One On For Safety” campaign Wednesday morning.

Lewis said they distribute red ribbons throughout the community and ask community members to pledge not to drink and drive. Lewis said some of the most dangerous days on the road are between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

“In 2016, from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s, there were 891 drunk driving fatalities across the country, accounting for 26 percent of all traffic fatalities,” Lewis said “That is why, every holiday season, MADD asks the community to ‘Tie One On For Safety.’ We invite everyone to display a MADD red ribbon in or on their vehicle as a pledge to never drink and drive and always designate a non-drinking driver.”

Sgt. Larry R. Stobbs with the St. Joseph Police Department said as part of the campaign kickoff Wednesday morning, Heartland MADD brought the “Choose Your Ride” vehicle (pictured above).

“The front half of it’s painted like a police car, the back half is painted like a taxicab and it’s a good visual… If you get a drunk driver arrest, it literally costs you thousands of dollars between fines, court costs, attorney fees, where a taxicab right here in St. Joseph, you can probably get anywhere in town for less than $10,” Stobbs said. “So do you want to pay the $10 and not have to worry about going to court or do you want to have to do without being able to drive for three months to a year and pay all those fines because you drank a few too many beers at a bar and then made the bad choice to drive.”

Lewis, along with Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jake Angle and Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins spoke at the kickoff event Wednesday morning.

Contact the MADD Heartland office at (816) 318-4515 for more information or to pick up a MADD red ribbon.

St. Joseph police are investigating after Cirilla’s was robbed Tuesday night.

According to Sgt. Wayne Byrom with the police department, a man dressed in a coat and gloves with his face covered entered the adult entertainment store at 3115 North Belt Hwy around 11:30 p.m., displayed a firearm and demanded cash from the store employee. He left in a vehicle with an unknown amount of cash from the register.

Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.

For more information on the Toy Drive and to view wish lists, click here.