Mainstage Offers Full Slate of Holiday Activities

Celebrating favorite traditions with family and friends makes the holiday season fun, whether it’s baking cookies, spinning the dreidel, caroling, or attending festive parties.  

For hundreds of local families, the Mainstage Center for the Arts (MCA) Holiday Concert and Family Festival has also become a favorite tradition. This event, held Dec. 15 and 16 this year, includes a visit from Santa Claus, plus an uplifting concert featuring MCA’s premiere show choirs, Harmony and Encore; High Pointe Dance Troupe; and excerpts from the Nutcracker Ballet by MCA School of Dance. In addition, opera singer and New Jersey native Robin Wilson returns with a special guest performance.

Mainstage has traditionally offered one performance of its annual Holiday Concert, sponsored by Comegno Law Group, P.C. However, the event has grown so popular, that a second date was added this year.

The concert will take place at the Dennis Flyer Theatre at Camden County College in Blackwood, beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 15 and at 2 p.m. on Dec. 16, with doors opening an hour before each performance for the holiday festival. The festival offers an ornament-making station, visits to Santa and a cookie walk.

The cookie walk is a fundraiser for the Harmony Show Choir to help offset touring expenses. The teenage show choir members, along with their parents, bake delicious holiday cookies such as nut rolls, chocolate chips, butter cookies, crushed candy canes and more. Volunteers display the cookies so folks can travel along the “cookie walk” filling bags to enjoy over the holidays. Bag sizes range from the $2 snack bag to the $25 gallon bag, which holds several dozen cookies.

“Here at Mainstage, we’re just delighted to open our doors for two performances of our Holiday Concert this year. We know this is such a busy time of year for everyone and are pleased to provide audiences with the additional opportunity to enjoy both the festival activities and concert. Everything from the decorations to Santa to the beautiful music really gets you into the holiday mood,” said Anne Marie Weaver, MCA Special Projects Director.

Experience Mainstage Center for the Arts’ holiday magic with your family. To purchase tickets to the Holiday Concert and Family Festival, visit the Mainstage website or call 856-227-3091. Ticket prices are $11 for adults and $9 for seniors and children under 12 years old. A small gift from Santa is included in this price. MCA charges a nominal fee for the ornament-making station and other activities.

Stacy Napolitano is Mainstage Center for the Arts' public relations professional.