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DAR/Barbara Ann Horton

Poplar Bluff Kindergarten Center celebrated Santa Day with students before Christmas break.

About 100 fifth graders at the Poplar Bluff Middle School lent a helping hand to the Poplar Bluff Street Department’s winter snow plow program Wednesday when they customized several plow blades with their painted hand prints.

Oak Grove Elementary held it's annual Jingle Jog on Tuesday.

Santa visited the Daily American Republic's Downtown Christmas Celebration on Tuesday at Haffy's courtyard. (Families, we've tried to group your photos together but you may want to look through the full gallery to make sure you don't miss anything!)

Gov. Andy Beshear said upwards of 70 may have died when a twister touched down for more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) in his state but the number of deaths could exceed 100 across 10 or more counties.

The Poplar Bluff High School Drama Club is excited to present Elf: The Musical this weekend along with other festivities and a chance to help area kids. The play is based on the hit 2003 film starring Will Ferrell and tells the story of Buddy, an indomitably cheerful human raised at the North Pole who embarks on a quest to find his birth father and bring Christmas cheer back to his family. Curtains go up 7 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday at the Kay Porter Theater. Tickets are $5. Santa Claus will be set up in the lobby before Friday’s show, 5:40-6:40 p.m., to hear what children want for Christmas. Senior night is Saturday after the show. Sunday night features a Letter-to-Santa writing station for kids in the lobby. Attendees are invited to bring new, packaged, unwrapped toys to the box office to benefit the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services. More information about the show is available at on the PBHS Drama Club Facebook page.

Downtown Poplar Bluff was the setting for the city's annual Lighted Christmas Parade, held Dec. 3.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Poplar Bluff History Museum. Classes from around the county have hand made decorations for the annual Poplar Bluff Museum Christmas Tree Forest, all centered around this year’s theme of Butler County history. A reception is planned for 1-4 p.m. Sunday for students and family to tour the finished trees while enjoying punch and cookies. Trees are divided into two age categories, elementary (K-6) and secondary (7-12), and judged by a top-secret panel to earn prizes for Best Ornaments, Best Tree Topper and Best Under-the-Tree Display. Attendees also get to vote until 3:45 p.m. during the open house for which tree should receive the coveted People’s Choice Award. The winner is announced at 4 p.m. Schools represented are the Poplar Bluff Kindergarten Center, O’Neal Elementary, Oak Grove Elementary, Lake Road Elementary, Poplar Bluff Junior High School, Twin Rivers Elementary and Westwood Baptist Academy. This year’s tree sponsors are the Kirby Jones family, The Medicine Shoppe, Commerce Bank, friends of Evelyn Whitworth, 4N Motorsports, Key Drugs and State Farm representative Eddy Justice. The Poplar Bluff History Museum is open every Sunday from 1-4 p.m. and is located at 1010 N. Main Street. More information can be found at pbmuseum.org or the museum’s Facebook page.

The annual Festival of Lights Auto Tour hosted at Redman Creek Campground East opened Friday and saw a high volume of traffic over the weekend. The event is held by the Wappapello Lake Area Association and will be open until Dec. 26. It is open from dusk to 9 p.m. There is no charge for admission, but donations are accepted for the WLAA. Camp areas are decorated by area businesses and organizations. Decorated campsites pictured clockwise are: Wappapello Corps of Engineers; American Realty; Peoples Community Bank; Little Moments, Captured Memories Photography/JD Hull Excavating; Sundowner Marina; and Stoddard County Sheriff’s Department.

Local businesses have been preparing for the busiest time of the year for months. They say they not only offer unique, quality goods, but you're guaranteed to receive your holiday presents without a tracking number.

Chartwells, the food service company that serves the Poplar Bluff R-I school district, held a community Thanksgiving dinner Friday from 6-8 p.m. at the Poplar Bluff High School cafeteria. The free dinner included all of the traditional favorites.

The annual Poplar Bluff Christmas Open House was held at several local businesses over the weekend, full of specials and holiday promotions.

City fire crews were called around 4:30 p.m. to a vacant house fire at 422 Lester St. According to city officials on the scene, the long-vacant property had been tagged as a nuisance structure. Although boarded up, it has been broken into multiple times, they said. As of 5:30 p.m., fire crews continued to batte hot spots, with additional crews arriving on scene. No information was avaiable at press time regarding injuries, but officials did not believe the house was occupied when crews arrived.

Photos by DAR/Samantha Tucker