2008 Information Available Soon

2007 Christmas Market Tours

Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Home Tours
Everyone is invited to enjoy this perennially popular event by visiting six beautiful Carlinville-area homes, all decked out in their holiday finery, during the annual BPW home tour on Saturday afternoon from 1-5pm. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 12 and younger, and may be purchased at the BPW booth in the exhibitors tents, at the individual homes, and in advance from the local banks and BPW members. Maps with directions will be available. Look for the green and yellow balloons at the individual homes on the tour route. Saturday 1-5 pm.

Trolley Car Rides
Board the red Bluff City Trolley and be transported in comfort for a narrated ride through historic Carlinville. The Bluff City guides are well versed in Carlinville history and interesting trivia, and riding the trolley has become a family tradition for many Market visitors! Park your car, truck, or bus, and relax for this approximately 30-minute ride. The trolley will pick up and drop off passengers at the Square, the Carlinville Plaza, and the Macoupin County Historical Society Museum so you may disembark to shop or dine and then board again later to travel to the next destination. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Donations accepted.

Macoupin County Historical Society Museum
Enjoy the candle-lit holiday splendor of this lovely Victorian mansion on Breckenridge Street. Each room, furnished with antiques, will be exquisitely decorated by the Society members using the theme of “A Destination Christmas.” The one-room country schoolhouse, the old church, and the blacksmith shop will also be open. The museum is open for tours on Friday from 3-9pm, Saturday from 9am-8pm, and Sunday from 11 am-3 pm. Admission prices for the mansion are $3 for adults and $1 for children 12 and younger. There is no admission fee for the other buildings on the grounds. Home-cooked beef stew, chili, hot dogs, polish sausage and apple pie will be available in the red barn. Trolley rides will be available to and from the museum about every 30 minutes. Driving directions: From the Square, take Route 4 North (North Broad Street) to the stoplight at Nicholas. Go west on Nicholas and cross the railroad tracks. Make an immediate right turn onto Oak. Turn left on Breckenridge.

Macoupin County Courthouse
There will be NO GUIDED TOURS this year, but visitors will have ample opportunity to explore this magnificent structure throughout the weekend. Numerous performances are scheduled in the stunning Main Courtroom, with its amazing natural acoustics. The Christmas Quilt Show is again being displayed in the hallway of the main floor. When it was completed in 1870, the courthouse cost the taxpayers of Macoupin County over $1,300,000 (forever nicknamed “the million-dollar-courthouse”) and was one of the two largest county courthouses in the United States.

Carriage Rides
Classic Carriages will offer 10-minute carriage rides from the town square both Friday and Saturday evenings from 5-7:30 pm. Modest fee required.

Special Exhibits

Quilt Show
Join Rita Barber Church of Barber Diversified for the fifth year of this delightful look at Christmas in fabric. Displayed on the main level of the Macoupin County Courthouse. Rita’s show will feature holiday-themed quilts created by quilters from throughout central Illinois and across the continent. Styles of quilts displayed on the main floor of the Macoupin County Courthouse will range from traditional to art-style quilts and from the very simple to the very complex. Through Barber Diversified, Rita produces one of the top ten quilting conferences in the world each spring in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and is beginning her third decade of Quilters’ Heritage Celebration with the 21st annual event scheduled for March 27-30, 2008. Rita has long championed quilting in our region and was an early leader of the quilting art revival when she published her book Somewhere In Between: Quilts and Quilters of Illinois in 1986. Hours for this special exhibit will be Friday 7-9 pm, Saturday 10 am-5 pm and Sunday 12-3 pm. There is no admission fee. Rita will have autographed copies of her book available for purchase and a petite boutique of quilting items. Proceeds from the boutique will go to the Yes Mam!® Mammogram Challenge Project which helps provide free mammograms to women who have no medical insurance.