You can feel it in the air, it is the Christmas season, and Katie Honigford tells us how the students at Ohio Northern University have every note and dance step ready to put everybody in the holiday spirit.
Pictured: Cast performing in the 2022 Holiday Spectacular. Photo Date: November 16, 2022.
"It is crazy how much it lights up the campus," says Juliana Kelly, a senior who plays Trixel the Elf. "It's like everybody around the university starts celebrating Christmas before Halloween even happens."
Of course, we are talking about the Holiday Spectacular. For 27 years, the show has been one tradition that area residents and the performers look forward to.
"It really a sense of community for both the students here on campus and the faculty here on campus as well as the local community," says Caleb Jingo, a senior who plays Tinsel the Elf. "Like being able to present this to the Lima community and Ada and bringing in all sorts of different families and really kind of blending those two together."
"I love kicking off people's holidays," adds Kelly. "I get to see all the little kids you know dust off their Christmas costumes and come in their ugly sweaters."
Some of the performers come in from around the state and the nation, but they quickly figure out how special the holiday spectacular is to everyone locally.
"I came into the show freshmen year not really knowing much about it until we got you know up and running with it. Just to immediately see how much it meant to people was just really inspiring," adds Jingo. "And now that I have done it for how many years, it has become something that I look forward to and able to cherish that same way."
When the curtain rises, Kelly and Jingo don't only want the audience to enjoy the show but go on the holiday journey with them.
"I want people to be able to celebrate to let their cares go away for an hour 90 minutes and just really enjoy themselves because this is what this show is all about," says Jingo.
"Theater is supposed to be fun and is supposed to let you kick back to a different world and kind of feel the magic of Christmas," states Kelly. "I like to say some theater is like meat and potatoes and some is cotton candy and this is the best cotton candy that you are going to find."
The Holiday Spectacular will be at the Freed Center at Ohio Northern from November 17th through the 19th, ticket prices range from 20 dollars for adults down to five dollars for youngsters and can be purchased through the box office. The show will move to the veterans civic and convention center in Lima from December second through the fourth. All tickets are five dollars and can be bought at any Kewpee location.
