For all of us who live in and near Vero Beach, please plan on joining together with your friends, neighbors, families and out-of-town guests at the official city kick-off to the holiday season events.  The Holiday Rec Party and Holiday Rec Run 3296-GO! will be held at Royal Palm Pointe on Friday evening, December 6 from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. The Fountains at Royal Palm Pointe will soon be open for year-round family fun on Sundays with the proceeds from these events.

The Holiday Rec Party, sponsored by John Michael Sarbak-Plastic Surgery and All Aboard America, will be held in the parking lot at the end of Royal Palm Pointe and around the Fountains.  Guests will be entertained by The Rip Tides, Old Barber Bridge, the Vero Beach Theatre Guild’s Guild-on-the- Go, the IR Charter High School’s Diversified Chorus and Gifford Youth Orchestra. Children can make holiday decorations for the Christmas trees with the Boys & Girls Clubs of IRC, color with Vero author/illustrator Leslie McGuirk, frolic on the inflatables (for a nominal fee), have their face painted or visit with Papa Joe’s puppets and of course, Santa Claus. In addition to the decorated trees, the evening’s piece de resistance will undoubtedly be the Holiday Boat Parade along the Inter-coastal, along with the intermittent auction of paintings, impressions of the Royal Palm Pointe Fountain by local Vero Beach artists, booths galore, food vendors, two beer gardens and a whole lot more!

The Holiday Rec Run, the first-ever City “Night” run, sponsored by Girard Equipment, will kick off at 6 p.m. The 2 mile jaunt begins at the entrance to Royal Palm Pointe on the corner of Indian River Boulevard and will proceed through the beautiful Vero Isles, down to Young Park and then back to Royal Palm Pointe. The timed event by Runners Depot, will offer the first 150 runners an event t-shirt along with their choice of a glow stick necklace, bracelet or headband and goodie bags, OJ and water. Before-hand, the runners will warm-up and stretch their legs with John Sammartano of JAS Fitness to music accompanied by a colorful light show presented by DJanddanceproducitons.com, and end up in the party block to receive their awards sponsored by Vero Marine Center.

Booth space is available to non-profits, businesses and holiday crafters. Applications for booth space and runner registration can be found online atwww.covb.org as well as information on participating in the artist auction, Holiday boat parade, and sponsors of the event.

Emcees for the evening will include Rhett Palmer, Hamp Elliott, Geoff Moore, Dana Daniels and Bill Moody. Media sponsors include Press Journal, The Breeze FM and Jack FM. Royal Palm Pointe will be open to traffic and parking will be available in all business parking lots other than the restaurant lots, as well as the parking lots at the Florida Eye Institute on Indian River Boulevard and First Presbyterian Church, Royal Palm Boulevard.  There will be food available at restaurants throughout the Pointe and food and drink available for sale at the Rec Party.  No coolers please.

For more general information, contact Beverly Paris of Paris Productions at 772-234-4412 or Rob Slezak of the Recreation Department at 567-2144. For more information on the Holiday Rec Run, contact John Sammartano at 321-6003.