Free Holiday Sing-A-Long at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center on Dec. 5

Area residents are invited to join the annual tradition and kick off the holiday season at Wolf Trap’s 2015 Holiday Sing-A-Long! The free community event will take place Saturday, Dec. 5 at 4 p.m. at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, VA.

This musical celebration hosts a performance by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band and a sing-a-long of Christmas carols and Hanukkah songs with local choirs and vocal groups from the metropolitan Washington area.  “Special guests” include Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus.

Wolf Trap invites patrons to bring bells to participate in the “Jing-A-Long” during the singing of “Jingle Bells,” and a battery-operated candle to join in the Wolf Trap tradition of exiting the Filene Center with an elegant candlelight procession set to a traditional performance of “Silent Night.” Other holiday favorites on the program will include “O Come, All Ye Faithful,” “Let it Snow,” “Hanukkah Dance” and “Dreidel.”

Wolf Trap will also host a Toys for Tots collection at the entrance of the Park. Patrons are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped toys, which will be donated to children in the greater Washington area. Toy donations are voluntary and are not required for admission.

The Holiday Sing-A-Long began in 1968 when Wolf Trap’s founder, Catherine Filene Shouse (1896-1994), invited local church choirs to her home to sing Christmas carols and share in holiday cheer. Since then, it has grown into a Washington-area holiday tradition. Each year, thousands of families and a multitude of volunteer singers from community churches and choral groups fill the house at the Filene Center to share in the holiday spirit.