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Williams Christmas up for Arizona Governor's award
The Magic of Christmas in Williams gets nod for AZ governor’s award

<br>Patrick Whitehurst/WGCN<br>
Crews work to lift the town Christmas tree to put it into place for last year’s Christmas tree lighting. This year’s lighting is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 28.

<br>Patrick Whitehurst/WGCN<br> Crews work to lift the town Christmas tree to put it into place for last year’s Christmas tree lighting. This year’s lighting is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 28.

Members of the locally-based "Magic of Christmas in Williams" committee are celebrating their nomination to the Arizona Governor's Conference on Tourism Awards thanks to their hard work in creating the annual Christmas gala in the area. The group was selected as a contender for the rural special events category thanks to a nomination submitted to the governor's office by officials with the Williams-Grand Canyon Chamber of Commerce. Members of the Magic of Christmas in Williams group will not know whether they have won the award, however, until July 10, according to committee member Diana Croteau.

The award is presented to an event that best embodies the word "special," which brings a unique draw for tourism and attracts visitors from outside the local area, according to the nomination application. The winner will be chosen based on a number of criteria, including the use of an original approach, distinctive appeal, media coverage and the enhancement of community pride. The Magic of Christmas in Williams was chosen for the rural award rather than the urban award for the same category, Croteau said, due to the small community's size.

"I'm really excited about it. They pick three top winners," Croteau said. "We are a finalist in the special events rural category."

Winners for the event will be announced at the Governor's Award Luncheon at the Governor's Conference on Tourism Thursday, July 10 in Tucson.

"There are several of us going down, myself, Bill Baptist and Donna Harwood," Croteau said. "Bill and Donna are the big committee members for the village at the east end of town. They take care of all of that."

Though she is happy about the nomination, Croteau said she is not surprised to be up for the award.

"Without sounding conceited, I'm not surprised," she said. "I think it's a fabulous event and, especially for the size of our town, the amount of sponsorships we get, and the community pride that it brings."

Plans are brewing for this Christmas

Croteau said plans for this year's Magic of Christmas in Williams are already taking shape. This year's tree lighting is currently scheduled for Nov. 28 in the downtown area.

"We're working on it. I need to go before the council to make sure that we can still have the same road closures, that everything is okay with the city and the council," Croteau said. "We're planning on expanding on the village. We already have people that want to be part of the village this year. We're going to start working on that right away. We ended up with like 24 in the village and we started at eight from the previous year. Last year we added a tremendous amount to the event. We did the pre-event, starting at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, we added the drum at the base of the tree, we added the nutcracker soldiers that stood underneath the tree, we changed the lighting, we changed out the decorations a little bit, we enhanced Monument Park, so every year we try to bring a little bit more to the event and add to it."

Croteau said she is a little concerned about this year's Christmas celebration, however, due to a lack of sponsorships in 2008.

"We might not be able to do as much as we would like, but I still think that this is a great event and I think we'll have quite a few sponsors," she said.

Last season, a total of 118 sponsors came on board to support the event, Croteau added.

"We had tons of advertisement last year. One of our big advertisements was on the back of 18 Coca-Cola delivery trucks that had the event. Those advertisements went all the way from Payson to Kingman. Visitation was up that month," Croteau said. "It's a great program."


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