The Inter-Mountain photo by Edgar Kelley Augusta Heritage Center Director Seth Young leads a group of carolers in front of Elkins City Hall in 2022. The third annual Community Christmas Carol Tour event will take place Friday in downtown Elkins.

ELKINS — The Augusta Heritage Center will look to spread the spirit of the holidays with its third annual Community Christmas Carol Tour that will take place Friday evening in the heart of downtown Elkins.

Those wishing to participate in the carolling event can meet up at the Elkins-Randolph County YMCA at 4:45 p.m. for a rehearsal session in the Rotary Room that will last approximately 45 minutes.

“We will meet at the YMCA to practice the songs we will be singing,” said Augusta Heritage Center Executive Director Seth Young . “And the songs we will be learning are songs that everyone knows. It’s always fun to go through the songs before we go out and start singing them.”

From there the carolers, along with the Augusta Community Choir, will make their way to the Elkins Senior Center for a performance at 5:40 p.m., before heading to the Old Brick Playhouse for a 6:15 p.m. session.

“The Senior Center will be having their Christmas Dinner and we are going to sing for that,” said Young. “We will then go to the Old Brick Playhouse and sing in the lobby for people who are coming in to see ‘Elf.’ So we will be singing as patrons are coming in and as the cast is getting ready for the play.”

After performing at the Old Brick, the carolers will head to Big Timber Brewing for a host of events scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. During the trek across town, they will make several stops along the way.

“There will be a stop or two after we leave the Old Brick Playhouse and head to Big Timber,” said Young. “We will have a lot of experiential gifts up for bid during a silent auction at Big Timber and all the proceeds from that go toward the move to our new downtown location in the Wilt Building, which we are now referring to as the Augusta Heritage Center.”

This marks the third-straight year that August has held the caroling celebration. Over 70 area residents followed carolers around city streets last year as the tour shifted to downtown business and organization in 2022.

“This will be our third annual event and it has continued to grow every year,” said Augusta Heritage Center Executive Director Seth Young. “It’s always wonderful seeing families singing together during this event. This year we have been able to bring on some community partners that we are both performing for and with. There will also be a fundraising element as well this year with a large culminating event at Big Timber, where we will sing caroling songs, wassailing songs, and the Jesse Milnes band will play.”

For more information on the event, visit augustaartsandculture.org.