Herd Holiday, Marshall University’s third annual holiday celebration, will be hosted at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 6 in the Memorial Student Center and on the plaza.

“We started it as a way to not only kick off the holiday season on campus for our students, but to open up campus, welcome everyone in and bring the whole Marshall University family together to celebrate,” Mallory Jarrell, Marshall University’s coordinator of marketing and branding, said.

President Jerome Gilbert and his wife Leigh Gilbert will start the event on the plaza with a ceremonial tree lighting. The large tree and all the other lights on the plaza will then be lit.

Inside the MSC, there will be fashion shows featuring Marshall apparel. Multiple musical groups will perform throughout the evening, including the Old Maine Carolers and the Marshall’s School of Theatre cast of “A Christmas Carol.”

The student center’s bookstore will be open and will have discounts and giveaways that night. Athletic programs will be involved with athletes signing autographs and giving away posters and basketball tickets. The Pottery Place will be there giving away 200 ornaments for free and will also be selling products.

Marshall’s INTO students will be in the Don Morris room to write names and gift tags in their native languages and tell people about the holiday culture in their home countries. Student organizations will be participating in a ginger bread house making competition from 6:45 p.m. until 7:30 p.m., with student affairs judging and rewarding the winning organization a $500 catering gift certificate.

During the celebration, donations will be taken up for the United Way of the Greenbrier Valley, which will help the flood victims from last summer’s floods. Wal-Mart has donated on behalf of Marshall’s Herd Holiday as well.

“Every little bit makes a difference,” Jarrell said. “Hopefully for these folks that are unfortunately still living in tents who need things like walls and drywall, this money can help them purchase some of those things.”

Noah Gillispie can be contacted at [email protected].