PINEHURST — A few years ago, Pinehurst didn’t have much going for it during the holidays. There were a few small events, but nothing that brought people to town.  

This bothered Miranda Elam, so she did something about it.  

Fast forward a couple of years and the Pinehurst Christmas Festival is one of the Silver Valley’s signature holiday events.  

“I wanted to bring a festival to Pinehurst because I just love my little town, and I love Christmas,” Elam said. “I was upset that we didn't do very much, so I decided to take action, but I couldn't do it without the other volunteers who helped make it amazing.”  

This year, the festival included a scavenger hunt, chili cook-off, gingerbread house and cookie decorating, an open-air market, a hot cocoa station, a tree lighting ceremony and pictures with Santa. 

But the main event was the Christmas Festival Parade.  

“Pinehurst was lit," Elam said. “We had more entries than ever before, and we had a ton of great feedback and lots of smiling faces.”  

Hundreds watched the dozens of floats, vehicles and walkers make their way down Pinehurst’s main drag. 

“We had so much fun,” Bonnie Parker said. “We had 6 pounds of candy and ran out before we got halfway through. I can't wait till next year. I thought it was awesome and the people were just amazing. For our little town, it was awesome.”

Elam loved hearing how much people enjoyed the festival, but she was just thankful for the little things, like good weather and volunteers.

"I think we achieved our goal of turning our little town into our very own Hallmark Christmas movie, if even for a day," she said.