The city of Orangeburg will transform into a winter wonderland at the annual Christmas Lighting Ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 22.

The celebration will begin with the Downtown Orangeburg Revitalization Association's traditional Christmas program "I'll Be Home for Christmas" at 6:30 p.m. at Stevenson Auditorium, followed by the lighting of Memorial Plaza at 7:45 p.m.

This year marks the city's 17th annual program. DORA's holiday program and the lighting ceremony are free and open to the public.

The program at Stevenson will feature soprano Angela Blalock singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas," the High Steppin' Cloggers and Queen of Roses Chelsea Smith performing to Christmas songs, trumpeter Hydrick Gass and Friends playing a Christmas medley, the Orangeburg Lutheran Church choir singing a portion of their Christmas cantata, the Orangeburg Civic Ballet performing two dances from "The Nutcracker," and everyone singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" to end the festivities.

"As we approach the Advent season and as we prepare for Thanksgiving, it has been the custom for the city of Orangeburg to turn on the Christmas lights on the Sunday and Monday before Thanksgiving," Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller said. "We are particularly glad to be able to make these beautiful lights available during this season for many visitors who will ride through our gardens free of charge to enjoy the many beautiful displays."

This year's husband-and-wife team, longtime Orangeburg pediatrician Dr. John Rheney and his wife, Orangeburg City Councilwoman Joyce Rheney, will light the plaza.

Dr. Rheney received the Clemson University Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award for 2007. He graduated from Clemson in 1947 and officially retired in 1990 after 38 years of service in the Orangeburg area, but soon went back to work as a district medical director for the Edisto Savannah Public Health District. A fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Rheney was awarded the South Carolina chapter's Career Achievement Award in 1995 and received the William Weston Distinguished Service Award for Excellence in Pediatrics in 1994.

A native of Alabama and a graduate of Jefferson-Hillman School of Nursing, Joyce Rheney has lived in Orangeburg since 1954. Active in civic affairs, she has served with DORA and was co-chair of the committee to renovate Stevenson Auditorium. She was named South Carolina Mother of the Year in 2001.

The Rheneys have been married 56 years and are the parents of four children -- John III, Betsy, Bruce and David, all Clemson alumni.

The Rev. Michael Smith, pastor of St. Andrews United Methodist Church, will offer the prayer at the lighting. The city of Orangeburg Parks and Recreation Department will serve hot chocolate.

The lighting of the Children's Garden Christmas and Kids' Walk at Edisto Memorial Gardens follows at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 23. Deloris and Melvin Smoak will light Children's Garden Christmas, and Dr. Gene Atkinson and his wife, Colleen Atkinson, will light the Kids' Walk.

Smoak has served as Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five's superintendent since 2000. He spent his entire 35-year career in the district in several capacities, including as assistant superintendent for administrative and academic affairs in the old Orangeburg School District Five from 1996 to 1997, and principal of Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School from 1986 to 1988 after previously serving as an assistant principal. As O-W's principal, Smoak gained national recognition through a 1988 Newsweek article titled "The Story of a School That's Getting Better." He also appeared on "Good Morning America" that year.

Deloris Smoak is a retired school teacher of 35 years. She is a member of the New Brookland Improvement League Inc., which helps to deliver back-to-school supplies, Thanksgiving meals to the elderly, and toys, fruit and clothes for Christmas, and helps plan and assist with a picnic for the elderly. In addition, Smoak is a member of the New Mount Zion Baptist Church, a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and a member of the Woodberry Community Association.

The Smoaks have two children and three grandchildren.

Dr. Atkinson is a graduate of Orangeburg High School and the University of South Carolina and is considered informally as Orangeburg's historian.

He has served as an Orangeburg dentist since 1976. He has been involved in a number of community activities, including serving as a volunteer for the United Way and South Carolina ETV telethons, a member of Kiwanis Club of Orangeburg, a participant in Project Hope, author and compiler of various historical accounts about Edisto Memorial Gardens and St. Paul's United Methodist Church, and author of a 128-page pictorial history book about Orangeburg. He also received the Orangeburg Citizen of the Year 2004 Award.

Colleen Atkinson, a nurse, grew up in Upstate New York and has lived in Orangeburg 32 years. She has served in the Junior Service League and was one of the founders of the Cooperative Church Ministries of Orangeburg.

The Atkinsons have three daughters.

St. Paul's UMC pastor, the Rev. Kristen Richardson-Frick, will provide the prayer at Monday's event.

Following the lighting of the gardens, the community is invited to view the Mayors' Festival of Wreaths, which will be on display Nov. 23-Dec. 7 at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center. Bids will be accepted on the wreaths until 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7, at the center.

Hot chocolate and cookies will be served in the OCFAC Terrace Garden from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 23, and from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the arts center's Lusty Gallery, the St. George Baptist Church and the New Hope Baptist Church choirs, directed by St. George's music director Ronda Smith, will join together to perform traditional Christmas songs and cantata selections.

Riverside Drive will be closed to vehicular traffic at approximately 5:30 p.m. in preparation for the gardens' lighting ceremony. It will reopen to one-way traffic at 8 p.m.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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