[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from Mitchell's Nursery in King as we celebrate the holiday season around the state.

We'll go on a Speedway Christmas light show, visit a year-round Christmas shop in Calabash and explore the Chinese Lantern Festival.

Coming up next.

- [Narrator] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[bright music] [bright music continues] [bright music continues] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend," everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt Noel and this week, we are celebrating the holiday season around the state.

I'm at Mitchell's Nursery & Greenhouse in King.

Mitchell's Nursery is a family-owned nursery that's been around for 45 years and one of their many accomplishments is their expertise in growing poinsettias, thousands of them.

We'll learn more about them later in the show, but first, let's head to Concord where the Charlotte Motor Speedway is all revved up for their annual drive through light show, featuring over 5 million lights.

[festive music] - Speedway Christmas is 5 million lights spread over a four mile course at an iconic racetrack known around the world.

Charlotte Motor Speedway was a track built in 1960 and it's known the world over for its innovation and great racing.

Some iconic NASCAR races and other events have taken place here.

So, from basically the first part of November through January, we decorate the place for fans all over the Southeast to come enjoy.

So, Speedway Christmas started in 2009, so we're celebrating our 15 year of Christmas magic.

We always look to improve on the next event, how we make magic happen, and so, we'll start planning the next Christmas show sometime in January as to how much more magic we create.

[upbeat music] - The track is 2 3/4 miles.

We start in October to build the country's largest Christmas light show.

It takes us six weeks to put 'em up.

We work six days a week, generally about 10 hours a day.

We gotta make sure we get all the lights to come on at the right time and to have 'em ready for opening day.

- Seeing the smile on the children's faces, their eyes light up.

They love the colors.

They love the lights and the dancing lights on the other side.

Just having them come here, knowing they're gonna have a good time.

- We have come so many years ever since our kids were little and it is so much fun.

There's so many lights and so many displays and they have built up so many interesting, fun things to do here.

It's a family tradition for our family.

- The people come in and they start seeing displays immediately when they get on property.

We have two 25 foot tall angels that are just beautiful when you come in the main entrance and there are signs that say Speedway Christmas all the way around, flashing lights, lots to see.

You get closer, you get the smells of the Christmas snacks.

You can see the glow from the inside of the track before you even make it to the track.

It is a lot to see.

Everybody turns the channel to 101.3 and you can listen to the music as you're looking at the lights.

They dance to the music the whole time.

It's a fun atmosphere.

- So Thursday through Sunday, the Christmas Village is open and there's this beautiful walking trail with more than 135 new elements.

So if you've been here in the past, it's gonna feel like a brand new show.

There's all sorts of s'mores and food outside.

There's all sorts of Christmas magic that happens in the village.

[heartfelt music] - The village has food, mini donuts, which are a big hit every year.

We have fried cinnamon rolls, chicken tenders, fudge, hot chocolates, a lot of variety in foods here.

[inspirational music] - Speedway Children's Charities was founded by Bruton Smith back when he actually lost his son to crib death.

And since that time, we've leveraged the power of NASCAR to raise money for children's charities in the area.

So, what we have out here are 13 charities that have taken a Christmas tree and decorated it.

Each of those trees will actually be voted on by our guests out here and the winning tree will actually get an additional grant from Speedway Children's Charities.

The holidays are all about giving and some of this is giving back, and what better way than to give back to children who need it than through the Christmas holiday?

- Ah, we love coming here to see the Christmas lights.

They're so pretty.

They change 'em every year.

We enjoy just the music and the lights and how they animate with each other and just spending time with family, being able to be here.

We love racing and culminating that together with Christmas is just a perfect match for us.

- It's an escape, right?

It's a chance to to enjoy the holidays and the magic that we all grew up with as children that holidays represent.

We hope that our guests that come here, once they leave the property, feel a little bit of that Christmas magic.

[festive music] - Speedway Christmas runs every night at the Charlotte Motor Speedway until January 5th from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

The Speedway is at 5555 Concord Parkway South in Concord.

For more information or to get tickets, visit charlottemotorspeedway.com.

Of course, you can purchase poinsettias here at Mitchell's Nursery, but they offer plants and succulents all year round.

And speaking of year round, there's a shop in one of our southern most beach towns that is a Christmas store that's open year round.

Let's take a visit to Callahan's of Calabash.

- [Sadie] Hot sand, salty hair and sunburns.

If you've spent much time in North Carolina, you've probably enjoyed a summer day at the coast.

For me, them and swimming and putt putt at Sunset Beach, but right around the corner in the town of Calabash, you can walk from the blazing sun straight into a winter wonderland, and at Callahan's, it doesn't matter the time of year.

- We got a lot of questions.

Well, when do you take all this down?

Well, we don't.

This is it.

What makes this unique is you can come in January through December.

It is fully decked out all the time, Christmas music playing.

- [Sadie] Nestled in one wing of this 35,000 square foot store is St. Nick Nack's Christmas Shop, and nobody knows more about it than buyer and curator Karen Wilson.

- We want you to come into the shops and we want you to feel at home first.

We want you to feel Southern hospitality, but then we want you to come and explore and we want you to be inspired by the five rooms that we offer.

It's over a hundred trees.

One of our specialty offerings that we are known for is our ribbon selection.

We also have, I mean it's over a million ornaments here, so we have a little bit for everyone.

We have tabletop.

We have a lot of home decor.

So, from start to finish, we can do your home.

- It's Christmas all year round, but now that we're leading up to Christmas, it's nice to be here and see what new things are available.

- [Karen] But you look at it and go, that is incredible.

So we want it to look like pieces of artwork.

- [Sadie] And do you have a favorite one that's up right now?

- Oh no.

That would be like picking a child.

No.

No, each one that we just finished would be my favorite.

The one that we just finished would've been my favorite.

- [Sadie] Callahan's has been a staple of Calabash for nearly 50 years.

- It's the last little Southern town in North Carolina.

So it's just very, very unique because it's kind of a sleepy little town, but yet, we are very modern in food and in retail experience.

- [Sadie] That experience drew this church group into town for seafood and a little bit of shopping.

- Hey, I was called up yesterday by the pastor to ask me to drive the bus for these ladies.

- Yeah, we had a choice on where to go to eat out and I said, "Well, why not go to Calabash?"

- [Reporter] It's not just Christmas.

Callahan's is also complete with a garden section, fudge, clothes, souvenirs and nautical treasures.

- I really like how it's laid out and you can walk through for hours and get lost in it and still not see everything.

- People used to say it looked like Christmas threw up in my house.

If I had had enough money, I would've been coming out probably with about four or five bags full.

- But the best thing about Christmas is family get togethers.

- [David] If I had to go on they bus, stays on the bus.

- [Martha] That's right.

[church group chuckles] - [Sadie] Karen has been around to watch this family business grow into family tradition.

- What Clark's vision when he purchased this and began to toy with the idea to put a Christmas shop in here, he wanted nostalgia.

He wanted a place where families or individuals can come feel something of joy, something that's calming.

With tradition, you want to change but stay the same.

If your grandparents brought you or your parents brought you, you're gonna recognize the toys underneath the register.

You're gonna recognize some of the features of the shop that really have not changed.

However, you're also gonna walk into the store and see the latest and the trend.

- My family and I have always vacationed down in Myrtle Beach and when we would always come here, obviously, to Callahan's, it just was so magical and I just love all the trees, the Santas, the smells, the music, and when I would walk through, I'm singing.

I'm just having a really good time.

But every year when we would come, when I would go to check out at a register, I would tell them, "One year I will live here and I will work here."

And here I am.

Did you guys find everything you needed?

- [Customer] We did.

- And then some?

- [Customer] Yes, always coming here.

- It's easy to do.

- Bottom line is the meaning of Christmas and bottom line is the sense of love and peace and joy and unity.

- [Sadie] And that's what keeps people like Scarlett, Jannell and me coming back year after year.

[gentle music] - Callahan's of Calabash is at 9973 Beach Drive Southwest in Calabash and they open daily from 9:00 AM.

For more information, give them a call at [910] 579-2611 or go online to callahansgifts.com.

[bright music] I'm here with Jim and Judy Mitchell of Mitchell's Nursery and Greenhouse.

I'm so excited to here.

- Thank you for coming.

- Tell me, how did you folks get started?

- Well, we were both students at NC State in horticulture.

We went on a field trip up to Canada.

One of our students, fellow students, had a talk to give up there at a convention and we just got together on the bus going up.

The rest is history.

- [Debroah] Ain't that how it happens?

- Yep.

We would root African violets and that type of thing in a small greenhouse I had and we would go to the farmer's market in Raleigh on Saturdays while we were still in school to sell a few of our plants.

1977, we moved to the King area.

We had a small house with an extra lot on a creek.

Then in 1996, we started our greenhouse growing, and our first crop in just a basic 30 by 96 Quonset house, two of those.

We had poinsettias.

- [Debroah] How many varieties of poinsettias do you have here now?

- 85.

We're a test trial for the breeders.

After they develop 'em, before they go on the market where they send them out to a few greenhouses to trial 'em out.

And we're one of those that they trial 'em.

- [Debroah] How do I take care of them?

- Most of the time in the households, if you water 'em about once a week with a cup and a half to two cups of water to make sure the soil in that container is good and moist and it should hold 'em.

The new varieties in the last 30 years will hold up real well, usually till about Valentine's Day if you take a little bit of care.

- [Debroah] Tell me about some of the variety that you have.

You even have something called a Thanksgiving poinsettia.

- Oh, yes.

- [Debroah] And a rose one.

- Right.

- Got a yellow one that's good for Thanksgiving called Golden Glo.

- [Debroah] That is beautiful.

- Got a pure white one.

It's called Princettia White, but it's a little bit smaller than the rest of them.

- [Debroah] And that one looks really interesting.

What's that?

- This is called Winter Rose.

It's a double poinsettia.

- It doesn't even look real, but it is.

- Right, right.

- It's soft.

That's gorgeous.

[gentle music] - Oh my word.

Let's just say, I came saying to myself, "I am not buying any plants 'cause I have a lot at home."

and one look at this place and here I am.

It's wonderful.

I'm part of the Lexington Garden Club and we came here and then we're going out to lunch and we're having a wonderful outing.

- All the poinsettias are just amazing and just the different varieties are pretty impressive.

- [Debroah] Why do you think these plants are so popular, especially around holiday time?

- I think it's mainly one of those things, kind of like most of your flowering plants that originally, persons just began to like.

They grew a few.

Neighbors saw 'em, and it busted from just a small area to all across the nation and different colors, new breeders.

They come out with a variation.

It amazes me how they can come out with so many new bract sizes, as well as color variations.

- And the other thing of that is it's also the time of year it normally blooms.

It likes short days to make it bloom.

- Poinsettias are a light sensitive plant as so many of your plants are to make 'em bloom at certain times.

The native poinsettia is one that blooms this time of year as long as its sleep is not interrupted.

- Well, Judy, Jim, these are absolutely brilliant.

Thank you so much for telling me about poinsettias.

I can't wait to take some of these home to my family.

- Right.

Thank you for coming.

- [Judy] Well, thanks for bringing.

[bright music] - Mitchell's Nursery & Greenhouse is at 1088 West Dalton Road in King and they're open daily.

For more information, give them a call at [336] 983-4107 or go online to mitchellsnursery.com.

This is one of Mitchell's Nursery's newest breeds.

In fact, it's so new to the market, they haven't even named it yet.

Now there's a very old holiday tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages.

In fact, it may be the oldest Christmas tradition in the world.

It's called the Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival.

And producer Seraphim Smith takes us to his hometown, Kinston, to show us how they celebrate it.

[stately trumpet music] [footsteps click on ground] - [Seraphim] What happens when you take a Renaissance fair and marry it to a Christmas pageant?

You get the Boar's Head Festival.

But what's this festival about?

- Medieval Christian festival, celebrating the evil boar being slain and the light of Christ going out into the world.

- And it said that a scholar, representing knowledge and light and learning, shoved a book down the throat of the boar, thus killing it.

- [Seraphim] The student then beheaded the boar and presented the capital trophy to the Queen's College at Oxford.

A feast was organized there around the heroic event in 1340 and has been celebrated at several colleges, churches and manors ever since.

- Number one, the costumes.

I think they're awesome.

- I love it.

The pageantry, it's beautiful.

- Beefeater guards, live animals, llamas, donkeys, all sorts of things for you to come and see and enjoy.

[festive music] - And I also like it because there's so many people in it of all different races and stuff like that.

And it's so good because we all come for one person, the birth of Jesus Christ.

- [Seraphim] As if animals walking down the aisle weren't intriguing enough, when I found out that this normal looking church actually had a costume shop upstairs, I knew I would have to check it out.

- Look at that.

- [Seraphim] Marion, How many costumes over the years?

- What, you mean in these two rooms?

Probably 200.

It's like a magician's box opening up, you know.

It's fun.

It's just fun.

[stately organ music] - I love it.

I absolutely love it and I love the dancing.

It's marvelous and the singing.

It's awesome.

[stately music] - The Boar's Head Festival is amazing.

One of the things that I love about the story itself and the pageant is that it takes place in a community.

And so you have all walks of life, people who have been through maybe the easiest part of life, and people who have gone through maybe the hardest seasons of life and they come together from whatever their lives have been holding and whatever they're going through, at first to celebrate basically a pig picking.

We in eastern North Carolina really understand that.

But then as we gather, there's conversation about evil being defeated and there's a really powerful moment of the pageant where the conversation of the pageant changes from secular wintertime songs to the birth of Jesus, the defeat of evil.

[celebratory organ music] - If you're around and you're in the neighborhood of St. Mary's, please come.

We'd love to see you.

- [Seraphim] Christmas is the season of joy, wonder and awe.

Hey, I just had an epiphany.

You could come join the festival, too.

So, dust off your Renaissance fair costume and get thee to Kinston in January.

[festive music] - The Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival is at 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM on January 5th, 2025 at St. Mary's Episcopal Church at 800 Rountree Street in Kinston.

For more information, visit their website at stmarykinston.com.

I just love that there's so many different varieties of poinsettias here at Mitchell's and this one is particularly pretty to me.

It's called Luv U Pink.

It's just gorgeous.

You know, the holidays are celebrated by different cultures in many different ways, and one extremely popular festival is in Cary.

It's called the Chinese Lantern Festival, and it is a wonder to behold.

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] - In Koka Booth Amphitheatre here, this is the largest scale for us in all the events in America.

We have the most attendance here, and I think for this year, every lanterns are different from before.

And we have the very high in heaven palace here and a very long, like 200 feet dragon sculpture there.

And that's our special lantern for this year.

[gentle music] [gentle music rises] - Tonight's experience was great this year.

They changed it up and they had the castle all done in ice this year.

The ice dragon was really cool.

That was something new for us to see.

- Yeah, the dinosaurs I think were really cool, too.

- [Chelsie] We've come for the past, what, four years?

- Yeah, four or five years, yeah.

And honestly, it's just- - Since they've been doing it, really.

- It's a cool event, you know?

And it's just a great way to come out and enjoy nature and, you know- - Culture, family atmosphere.

- Culture, that's right, yeah, yeah.

- Yeah, it's awesome.

Something cool to do in the Triangle, too.

- And they also give you, you know, you can buy beer, too, which is nice.

[Chelsie laughs] - Beverages.

[gentle exotic music] - [Lu] We have six, seven different kind of performances and all the performers are coming from China and they were like perform the traditional Chinese performances.

And I think it's great for our visitors to enjoy these kind of performances.

[dramatic music] [dramatic music continues] [dramatic music continues] [audience cheers and applauds] - There was guys jumping through hoops.

- Standing on a balance on a chair.

It was amazing.

- Yeah, yeah.

- It was really cool.

- It was neat, yeah.

- Very cool.

A lot of core work I can say.

- Yeah.

- [Lu] We have three themes this year, which is the ocean theme, and then the dinosaur and the Chinese traditions here.

And each of them, we have these descriptions for our lanterns.

And I think people, except enjoying the very beautiful lanterns, they can learn some information from our descriptions.

- Seeing the volcano, the volcano that's out there, it comes up amazing with the smoke- - [Leslie] Amazing.

- And some lava, you know, so it was pretty cool.

[upbeat music] - [Lu] We also have the interactive playground because we think if people can participate with the lanterns, can play with the lanterns, I think it's great for people to enjoy this kind of play lantern, like interactive playground in there.

[upbeat music] - The North Carolina Chinese Lantern Festival is at Koka Booth Amphitheatre at 8003 Regency Parkway in Cary, and the festival runs through January 12th, 2025.

For ticket information, go to boothamphitheatre.com.

Here in the greenhouse, there are over 12,000 poinsettias.

Can you believe that?

We've had a wonderful time here at Mitchell's Nursery & Greenhouse in King.

It's well worth a visit if you wanna pick up that special poinsettia or any other plant during the holidays.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, remember you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org or find us on our YouTube channel.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues and fades] - [Narrator] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of barrier island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[bright music]