Depot wraps up summer activities, looks toward holidays

By Randy Bell

Things heated up at Clinton’s Olde Towne Depot during July, but it won’t be long before the Polar Express rolls through.

The annual Depot Days of Summer were “fantastic,” according to Depot Manager Ashley Hammack, who told the Board of Aldermen at its August 20 meeting that about three hundred people visited during July, most of them from Clinton and Madison.  They had a chance to enjoy the Depot’s large train display, along with a variety of activities, including Reading Railroad, Saturday morning cartoons, a Choo-Choo Craft Day, tabletop train games and the All Aboard Art Gallery.

The next big event starts in mid-November, as the Depot welcomes in the holidays. Among the highlights are a Winter Wonderland display and a Deck the Walls Christmas card station to benefit local nursing home residents.

Hammack says the Depot will host the Santa Claus Crawl in partnership with Main Street Clinton and will feature a holiday train display, a gingerbread house competition and showings of the Polar Express movie.

A year-round feature is the Depot’s Rail Cam, which live streams video of passing trains 24/7.   So far, the Rail Cam has gotten about 13,000 views from people in eight states and seven countries.

The Depot also serves as an event space and community hub.  It’s been rented out twenty-four times this year, for events ranging from baby showers to Sweet 16 parties.  Several organizations hold meetings there, and the Depot hosts Board of Aldermen work sessions on the first Monday of each month.  It also serves as a polling place.

The Olde Towne Depot is open from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. It is located at 281 East Leake Street. For more information about Depot programs, call 601-924-5472.