Main Street in West Branch will start off the celebration on Friday, December 3, with a tree lighting ceremony as the West Branch High School Chorus sings on the Village Green at 6:30 p.m. During the weekend, downtown West Branch will feature brick fireplaces for roasting marshmallows, homemade doughnuts, photos with Santa (and perhaps one of his reindeer), along with family-friendly holiday crafts and activities to celebrate the season.

Shops will be open for business all weekend. A complete schedule of activities is online at www.mainstreetwestbranch.org. For more information, call Mackenzie Edwards at (319) 643-2131.

Horse-drawn wagon rides on Friday and Saturday evenings start at 5:30 p.m. from the Visitor Center of Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. The rides take visitors through the historic site and historic downtown West Branch. The last wagon rides begin at 8:00 p.m.

The Visitor Center, Herbert Hoover Birthplace Cottage, and Blacksmith Shop will be open to visitors on Friday and Saturday nights until 9:00 p.m. A park ranger will demonstrate the art and craft of blacksmithing in the Blacksmith Shop on Friday and Saturday nights from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Park volunteers and staff will lead ornament-making activities at the Visitor Center from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. For more information, call Herbert Hoover National Historic Site at 319-643-2541....