Third annual Christmas Follies comes to Zebulon Dec. 6 & 7

The annual celebration of Christmas in Cairo is coming to the Zebulon Theater next week as as the Syrup City Players present the third annual Cairo Christmas Follies. The holiday variety show was started three years ago as a way to not only usher in the Christmas season, but also to celebrate the unique talents of the people from right here in Grady County.
This year, the Follies will feature more than 20 different groups that will sing, dance, play musical instruments, present comedy skits, holiday plays and more during the weekend of Dec. 6-7.
“A few years ago, one of our members suggested that a great way to produce a holiday program without having to spend many weeks in rehearsals would be for us to host a Christmas variety show,” says Jeff Lovett, president of Syrup City Players. “There are so many talented people in our community and we decided that this would be a great way to celebrate the season while highlighting the wide variety of performers from Cairo and Southwest Georgia.”
The Christmas Follies will be held on Friday, Dec. 6, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Zebulon Theater. 
Each of these two shows is uniquely different and will feature different performers each night. There will also be a Children’s Matinee on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 2:30 p.m. that is co-sponsored by Grady County Young Life and Roddenbery Memorial Library. The children’s program will be an abbreviated show with music, games, puppets, crafts and even a visit from Santa.  
Advanced tickets for the full shows on Friday and Saturday night are $12 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. All tickets sold at the door will be $12. 
Advanced tickets for the Children’s Matinee are $6 for adults and $4 for children with all tickets at the door on sale for $4. Tickets may be purchased in advance at Miss Myrt’s and Center Drugs.
“One of the main reasons we decided to have the Christmas Follies during the same weekend every year was so that we could have a four-day celebration of the season starting with the Christmas Parade on Thursday night and ending with the Cairo High School Band Christmas Concert on Sunday afternoon,” says Lovett. “We also wanted to use the Follies as a way to encourage people to shop with our local merchants during the holiday season. That’s why giveaways and promotion of the downtown merchants have been such a big part of the Follies all three years.”
This year, every person who attends the Christmas Follies will receive a special promotional sheet from selected businesses in Downtown Cairo. Each of the merchants will be giving away a valuable prize or gift the week after the Follies and, in order to win, ticket holders simply fill out the entry for each of the merchants on the sheet and drop them in the box at each store. More than 20 businesses will be participating with more than $1,000 in prizes to be given away to those who attend the Cairo Christmas Follies.
Jim Ellis and Lynn Kimmel are the producers of this year’s Cairo Christmas Follies and have put together a spectacular lineup of performers for the two nights. There will be soloists and small music singing groups, dancers, two drama performances, musical acts and bands and even a live “radio play” performance by the Syrup City Players that will include audience participation.  Refreshments will also be available at the Zebulon Snack Bar with monies raised going to the digital conversion project of the theater.
For more information or to arrange group ticket sales, call Jeff Lovett at 229-221-1030.