A 16-year tradition continues in Tupelo this week as Celebration Village returns to the Tupelo Furniture Market.
The event kicks off today with a preview party from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Hours for the main event are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 19, and Friday, October 20, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday.
A daily pass costs $5 in advance or $7 at the door. Tickets for the preview party can be purchased for $50. A passport ticket, which covers the preview party pass, daily admission and the Girls Night Out event, costs $75. Children under six are admitted for free. Tickets can be purchased online at sanctuaryhospice.org or by calling 662-610-5482.
Celebration Village raises funds for the Sanctuary Hospice House, a nonprofit hospice that accepts patients regardless of age, sex, race, religion, diagnosis or ability to pay.
The event will feature 130 vendors and wares ranging from food and clothing to pottery, original artwork and specialty items.
Sanctuary Hospice House needs about $1.5 million a year to operate. “Celebration Village offsets about one-fourth of that goal,” said Heather Robinson-Palmer, the hospice’s director of outreach and fundraising. “It’s very important to us.”
Sponsors for this year’s event include the Spencer Group; Ashley Furniture HomeStore; Crescent Memorial; E.R. Carpenter & Co.; Journal Publishing; Room to Room; Tupelo Furniture Market; WTVA; and WLOV.
Hundreds of volunteers come together every year to manage Celebration Village, Robinson-Palmer said. For some, she added, “it was the last year that they were on this earth. And some of them even later used our services. To know they came together for a cause like Celebration Village … when I think of them, I remember their smiles, or I remember the work and sweat that went into making this great event happen.”
Special to HottyToddy.com.
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