Photo provided by Judy Evert Children meet Santa at the Chassell Old Fashioned Christmas.

CHASSELL — The Chassell community knows how to celebrate Christmas in style. This weekend, the town will ring in the holiday season with the 43rd annual “Old-Fashioned Christmas in Chassell” celebration, a multi-day event packed with Christmas festivities.

On Tuesday afternoon, Judy Evert, a Chassell community member who has been helping organize the annual event for 20 years, spoke with the Gazette about the many festivities.

This year’s event has already kicked off with a lighting and decorating contest for houses located in the Chassell area.

The festivities will enter full swing on Friday afternoon with a children’s Christmas program hosted by the Chassell Elementary School at 1 p.m., followed by a tree lighting in Hamar Field at 6 p.m. The tree lighting ceremony will include carolers, horse-drawn sleigh rides, hot chocolate and other treats, and an appearance by Santa.

The holiday cheer continues on Saturday with the Holiday Handcraft Bazaar from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Chassell School gymnasium. The bazaar is an enormous craft fair featuring approximately 80 crafters.

“It started off as a local craft fair for local crafters where people knit hats and mittens, and made beautiful wreaths and wood items,” Evert explained. “So, you’ll have a large variety of very unique crafters that you probably won’t see anywhere else. It’s not really a commercial craft fair, so we call it a handcraft bazaar.”

Evert said that the bazaar is a personal favorite.

“I can hardly wait for the craft fair to start,” she said. “Even though I’ve been working on Chassell’s Old-Fashioned Christmas for 20 years, I also am someone who participates in the craft fair as a purchaser.”

“I love the unique items and I’m always buying hats for my grandkids and homemade mittens and homemade Santas and gnomes and all the beautiful work that people put together,” she continued.

During the craft fair, the Chassell Women’s Club will be selling a variety of homemade pies by the slice. Pie varieties will include banana cream, coconut cream, lemon meringue, cherry, pumpkin, pecan, berry, and chocolate cream.

“It’s wonderful, People are lined up waiting for the pies to open,” Evert said.

A breakfast and lunch with the Chassell senior class will also take place on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Events continue into Saturday afternoon with Santa making another appearance, this time at the Chassell Heritage Center, to visit with kids about their Christmas wishes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. “When the kids get a chance to visit Santa, they will be given a nice gift,” Evert said. “They can also go across the hall to the auditorium where there will be tables set up for decorating Christmas cookies free of charge. It’s just going to be a wonderful event.”

The Chassell Heritage Center will also host a museum open house from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., where visitors can view pictures and artifacts and learn about the area’s history.

“The Friends of Fashion room displays the history of Paradise Road in Chassell, where in the 1800s, French Canadians came to Chassell and settled on Paradise Road,” Evert said. “We have pictures and write-ups of the original house that was built through the years.”

The open house will also include live music by eight different performers, and the historic Friends of Fashion show, a live performance featuring actors dressed in historic period garb.

The “Home for the Holidays – Home Tour” will also begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday. This year, participants can visit five different Chassell homes to see decorations and historical features. Homeowners will be present to chat with visitors until the event’s conclusion at 5 p.m.

“It is an opportunity to see their beautiful home, but also to see how they decorate their home. Not only with Christmas decorations, but with their decorations every day,” Evert explained. “For example, the Hamar house that was built in the early 1900s has the most beautiful stairs and banister. It’s just such a unique home that was built in the lumber days.”

The home tour includes food donated by 12 different local businesses including Gino’s, Kaleva Cafe, and the Keweenaw Kountry Store. Food will be provided at the Chassell Heritage Center.

Home tour tickets are $10, and are available at several locations including the Chassell General Store, Chassell Heritage Center, and at the Chassell school during the craft fair.

A full schedule of Chassell’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration, and additional information, is available on the event Facebook page, @chassellchristmas.