Communities in Western North Carolina are gathering to spread holiday cheer with plays, parades and art shows. Check out the list to see what holiday events are happening in your town.

Haywood County

The annual Krismart Fashion Show and Luncheon will be held at noon Dec. 1 at the Lambuth Inn in Lake Junaluska.

Models will show off their favorite casual and business attire, all of which will available for purchase at a discounted rate following the show.

Tickets are $14 per person, and reservations are required. 456.6662.

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Music Works! Studio of Performing Arts is putting on a production of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” a tale of the horrible Herdman children who land the lead role in the school play.

The studio will have two shows: one at the Haywood Regional Arts Theatre at 7 p.m. on Dec. 2 and another at Canton Middle School at 7 p.m. on Dec. 3. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for children ages 3-17. They can be purchased in advance at MusicWorks in Waynesville. 456.2283.

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MedWest is hosting a Holiday Craft Fair and Sale at its Health & Fitness Center in Clyde. The sale will last from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Dec. 3.

Booth information and applications are available at the center’s front desk. 542.8080.

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The Third Generation Barn Loft is beginning the Advent Season with a Living Nativity and Christmas Service in a Stable Dec. 3 and 4.

Torpy and Wirt Skinner are offering a free Living Nativity, which will include music and live animals inside their historic barn on Frank Mann Road in Canton, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 3. Members of the Nativity cast are from Providence Church and Long’s Chapel United Methodist Church.

Visitors are invited to bring a non-perishable food item to place at the Manger for the Canton Community Kitchen.

There will be another Christmas Service in a Stable Dec. 4 from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m., featuring the quiet singing of Christmas carols, sitting on hay bales, hearing a Christmas story, enjoying special music and readings from Scripture, all in the presence of the live animals.

These events are very casual but dress warmly.

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The Smoky Mountain Brass Band, an authentic British style brass band, will present its annual Christmas program at Hazelwood Baptist Church in Waynesville Dec. 4 at 5 p.m.

The thirty-member band performs a wide variety of musical styles, from Marches and Hymn tunes to Classical, Jazz, Pops and classic British Brass Band repertoire.

The concerts are free and open to the public, but a free will offering will be collected for the benefit of local charities and the band.

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The 2011 Waynesville Christmas Parade, themed “Make the Season Bright,” will be Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. on Main Street.

The Town of Waynesville, Waynesville Kiwanis Club and the Downtown Waynesville Association sponsor this annual event. A full line up of community groups, churches, bands and businesses will make their way through downtown Waynesville from First Presbyterian Church to Bogart’s Restaurant.

Marines representing “Toys for Tots” will be walking along the parade route collecting toys, and the star of the show, Santa Claus, will be making a special appearance.

456.3517.

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The Town of Maggie Valley will hold its annual Christmas Parade and Food Drive to benefit Haywood Ministries Dec. 3 at 6 p.m.

This year’s theme, “Unwrap the Magic of Christmas,” celebrates the excitement and magic of the season. As in the past, parade entrants will proceed along Hwy 19 beginning at the Ghost Town parking lot and ending at the Maggie Valley Festival Grounds. Provisions are currently being collected at Maggie Valley Police Department and Town Hall in support of the Haywood Christian Ministries Food Drive.

Admission to the event is free, and parade participants will walk handing out candy to spectators along the parade route.

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The Museum of North Carolina Handicrafts at the Shelton House will host its popular Appalachian Christmas event from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Haywood Arts Regional Theater Dec. 3.

Anne and Rob Lough will accompany the Trantham family in singing Christmas songs, spiritual music, play party tunes, ballads, carols and seasonal mountain melodies played on a variety of traditional instruments such as fiddle, guitar, banjo, dulcimer, autoharp, and other. Refreshments will include wine and hot cider.

Tickets — $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under — may be purchased at Blue Ridge Books, Christmas is Everyday and Olde Brick House in Waynesville. 456.5384.

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Join four-time Grammy Award winner David Holt and the Lake Junaluska Singers, a 16-voice professional ensemble, Dec. 9-11 for the 11th Annual Appalachian Christmas Celebration at beautiful Lake Junaluska in Waynesville.

Appalachian Christmas begins at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9, in historic Stuart Auditorium with a performance by the Lake Junaluska Singers featuring Celtic sounds, traditional carols, and selections from Handel’s Messiah.

At 9 a.m. Dec.10, the doors open on the Harrell Center for the spectacular Christmas Craft Show, featuring the work of local Western North Carolina crafters and artists. The musical celebration continues at 2:30 p.m., with a concert featuring the Lake Junaluska Singers and Voices in the Laurel, the area’s premier youth choir.

That evening, Holt, well known for his performance in the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and for his collaborations with Doc Watson, will perform at 8 p.m.

Concert tickets for the Friday evening and Saturday afternoon performances are $15 for adults and $6 for children 8 years of age and under. Admission to the Christmas Craft Show is free.

Tickets for Holt’s Saturday night performance are $25 for adults and $12.50 for children 8 years of age and under. Appalachian Christmas hotel packages, which include lodging, meals, and tickets, are available.

www.lakejunaluska.com/christmas. 800.222.4930.

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Make holiday memories with your family and friends at Downtown Waynesville’s annual “A Night before Christmas” event from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 10.

Shops, galleries and restaurants will remain open until 9 p.m., and Main Street will be closed to vehicular traffic at 5 p.m. to allow for volunteers to set up.

The event will feature strolling Christmas carolers from area churches, ensembles from Tuscola Band and Haywood Community Band, Haywood Women’s Chorus, horse-drawn wagon rides, Santa, a live nativity, hundreds of luminaries and more.

Macon County

Historic Franklin will transform into a winter wonderland Dec. 2.

The town’s annual holiday celebration will take place from 5 to 9 p.m. and feature free wagon rides, an ice slide for kids, demonstrations by ice sculptor Ryan McCurdy and live entertainment from the South Macon Elementary School Chorus.

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The Brasstown Ringers, an interdenominational Bell choir will be performing a Christmas Concert on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. in the Sanctuary of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Franklin. 

The event is the fourth and final performance in the 2011 “An Event For All Seasons” series. This remarkable choir rings on six octaves of Whitechapel bells, six octaves of Malmark choir chimes, six octaves of Schulmerick bells, plus various percussion instruments.

The $15 tickets are available at the Franklin Chamber of Commerce, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship or at the door the night of the performance.  Proceeds from the event will benefit the fellowship’s scholarship fund. 828.524.6777 or 828.524.3161.

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Virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and Grammy winner Ricky Skaggs, The Whites and their families will perform Christmas classics and brand new holiday gems during the eighth annual Skaggs Family Christmas tour.

Come celebrate the season with a family of first class musicians on Dec. 17 at the Smokey Mountain Performing Arts Center in Franklin. www.greatmountainmusic.com.

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Stop by The Bascom, a visual arts center, between now and Jan. 3 and experience the imaginative Giving Tree creations!

All donations made for the Giving Trees will benefit these participating non-profit organizations, including Big Brothers/Big Sisters of WNC, Relay for Life, The Pantry and Cashiers Highlands Humane Society, among others.

Swain County

A Christmas Bazaar, which includes the annual holiday parade, will be held in Cherokee from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Dec. 3.

The “Old Time Christmas” parade will begin at 5:30 p.m. by the Cherokee Bear Zoo and will travel going down Main St. to 441 N. before ending by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. There will be a band concert after the Christmas Parade on the Fairgrounds.

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Bryson City’s Spirit of Christmas day will kick off Dec. 3 with Breakfast with Santa for the kids and the 5K Rudolph Dash sponsored by the Rotary Club.

Festivities will conclude at 6 p.m. with a candlelit walk to the lighting of

the town Christmas tree and a Christmas Concert on the Square with the music of Avelina. The kids are welcome to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus, have some cocoa and enjoy some games.

The “Biggest Little Christmas Parade in the Smokies,” which usually circles Bryson City that same day, will take place Dec. 10 at 2 p.m.

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Visit the new Oconaluftee Visitor Center on U.S. 441 near Cherokee and see old-time crafts being demonstrated during the center’s open house and Christmas Past Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 17.

Learn by observing the practical arts of quilting, weaving, and basket and doll making, apple cider and apple butter.

The whole family will enjoy the free live music, storytelling and special activities for children.

Jackson County

The Dillsboro Festival of Lights & Luminaries illuminates this mountain village the first two weekends in December.

Adapted from a Scandinavian custom of lighting the way for the Christ child, more than 2,500 candles in white bags line the streets. This year’s dates are Dec. 2 thru 3 and Dec. 9 thru 10. In addition to luminaries on the streets, the town’s merchant “elves” trim their buildings, many of which date to the 1800s, in traditional white lights.

Once Dillsboro is aglow, carolers fill the streets, musicians stroll through town playing Christmas favorites, and Santa visits with children at Town Hall. Shopkeepers add to the merriment by staying open late and serving coffee, warm cider, hot chocolate and homemade goodies to visitors.

The Festival of Lights & Luminaries begins each evening at dusk and runs until 9 p.m. There is no admission charge and lodging is plentiful with more than half of Jackson’s County guest rooms located in Dillsboro or within a 15-minute drive.

www.visitdillsboro.org or 800.962.1911.

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The Pied Pipers and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra will perform at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 9 in the Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center on the WCU campus.

The Pied Pipers and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra will perform their joint holiday show, “A Christmas Gift.” The show, filled with song classics from the World War II era, also will feature holiday favorites performed in the style and tradition of the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and the Pied Pipers.

Ticket prices are $20 for adults and seniors; $15 for faculty and staff; $10 for groups of 20 or more; and $5 for children and students.

bardoartscenter.wcu.edu or 227.2479.

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The second annual Arts, Crafts & More Festival will be held Dec. 10 to benefit the Community Table, a nonprofit pantry in Sylva.

The festival — which will feature arts and crafts, such as trout flies, jewelry and shadow boxes —will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the National Guard Armory on Webster Road. There is no admission fee, but food for the Community Table will be gratefully accepted.

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The Cashiers Christmas Parade, a local and visitors’ favorite tradition, will be held at noon Dec. 10.

The parade is an eclectic string of floats, music and a variety of marchers.

The line of attractions will travel from the south end of Main Street, Hwy 107, to the Community Center.

The Cashiers Community Center, located on Hwy 64 west, offers a holiday-style lunch fundraiser right after the parade.

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Sylva will hold its annual Christmas parade, themed “Christmas Wonderland,” Dec. 10.

The town of Sylva and the Downtown Sylva Association are currently taking applications for participants in the 3 p.m. parade. Those interested in participating must complete an application by Dec. 1. Applications can be found at town hall, the Jackson Chamber of Commerce or at www.downtownsylva.org. 586.1577.