ANNUAL CAIRO CHRISTMAS STROLL SATURDAY

CAIRO, Ill. -- Mayor James E. Wilson and members of the Cairo City Council will join visitors for the 5th annual Christmas Stroll here this weekend.

More than 1,500 people are expected to walk through the streets of Cairo Saturday, from 6 to 8 p.m.. The stroll route, lined with luminaries and Christmas decorations, will be closed to motorized traffic, but horse-drawn carriages will be circulating along the route and will be available for tours.

Mayor Wilson, and Erin Foster, who was crowned queen at Cairo Riverboat Days in October, will flip the switch to turn on lights of an 80-foot pine tree at Lansden Park, officially opening stroll activities.

"We had to order more lights for the tree this year," said Monica L. Smith, librarian at the Cairo Public Library, and a coordinator of the Christmas Stroll.

A total of 116 strands of lights were used on the tree in 1997, "but the tree has grown during the year," said Smith.

The Christmas Stroll follows a route anchored by Magnolia Manor, Landsen Park and St. Mary's Park. Also along the mile-long route are Windham, an Italianate manor owned by Helen Bishof; Riverlore, an 1865 mansion, home of Ann Wolter, and First Southern Baptist Church, which is located in the same area, and will be open during the stroll.

The streets will be lined with luminaries, candles inside white paper bags filled with sand, placed every five feet on both sides of the sidewalk.

Santa Claus will be seated in his house at Landsen Park, where the gazebo will be decorated. Bands, choirs and a dance troupe are scheduled to provide entertainment along the stroll route, and coffee and hot chocolate will be available along the route.

St. Mary's Park will offer visitors a look along its lighted pine trees path, and the newly renovated St. Mary's Park Pavilion, adorned with thousands of lights.

"People can visit with "Miss Mary Christmas" and "Twinkle Toes the Elf" during the stroll.

Following the two-hour event, all visitors are invited to join in a "Community Christmas Carol" event.