By Emily Williams
Cahaba Heights will be brimming with holiday cheer Nov. 8 as the annual Deck the Heights Holiday Open House kicks off the season.
The annual event is a community effort, with members of the Cahaba Heights Merchants Association organizing the event and representing businesses throughout the Vestavia Hills neighborhood.
“We’ve done this in the Heights Village for several years, and then last year we really expanded,” said Katherine McRee, owner of The Lili Pad and Gigi’s. “So this will be the second year that it has been this big.”
At the heart of the event will be the Heights Express Trolley, manned by Santa’s elves, which begins at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights and makes eight stops along its route.
Along the way, kids will present their “passports” and earn a stamp. At the end of the trip, their passports earn them a free Doodles Italian ice from Santa at The Heights Village.
As the trolley moves along its route, guests will visit Creative Dog Training first for Higher Ground Coffee hot chocolate, hair styling by Salon Summit and performances by Before Soma and Vestavia Hills High School’s Just Singin’ show choir.
The trolley will then travel to Birmingham Physical Therapy for free appetizers and arts and crafts with Bloom Studio Birmingham; Flip Flops and What Nots for door prizes, discounts and more; Leaf and Petal, Crestline Bagel and El ZunZun for more fun and a strolling violinist; and The Blue Willow and Ryan Reeve for more discounts and giveaways.
“We’re so excited to be a part of this,” said Jennifer Cordover, owner of Icon Performance. “This event gets the whole community together, in the holiday spirit. It’s a way to get the merchants involved while offering fun for the entire family.”
At the trolley stop at Blackwell’s, Icon will be hosting a booth where guests can test their strength and then check out holiday hairstyles at Great Clips or grab food from Ashley Mac’s and Blackwell’s.
“We’ve added a lot of merchants this year, so there’s more involvement, more things to do and just more opportunities for family-friendly fun for the holidays,” Cordover said.
After Blackwell’s, the trolley stops at Meadowlawn Park for a winter wonderland, complete with falling snow, music performed by local Girl Scouts and an Adopt-a-Stuffed-Animal-Puppy station by Dog U.
The final stop will take guests to The Heights Village, which will be offering a photo booth with Santa, free wine-tasting from NY Butcher Shoppe, food and drinks from FoodBar and the newly opened Wintzell’s Oyster House and free class passes from True40. In addition, the village will be packed with food, beverages, discounts and kids craft tables by Little Soles, The Lili Pad, GiGi’s Teen, Serendipity, Manhattan South, Learning Express, The Swanky Stork, Second Hand Rose, Cahaba Pharmacy, The Art House and Freedom Soaps.
Deck the Heights will be taking over Cahaba Heights from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.
For more information, contact Katherine McRee of The Lili Pad and GiGi’s at katherine@lilipadbham.com or call 516-2588.
