Smithfield festival brings stories to life

Jubilant Christmas carols and vibrant decor lit up the streets of Smithfield on Dec. 2 as part of the first-ever Christmas Storybook Festival.  

“Our goal going into this festival was to have an event where fellows could come and just kick off Christmas and feel that sense of community,” said Jessica Higginbotham, member of the Smithfield City Arts Council and chair of the festival.  

Organized by the Smithfield City Arts Council, the festival showcased live music, costumed storytellers and multiple vendors selling handmade gifts.  

“We had local singers performing,” said Mike Monson, chairman of the Smithfield City Arts Council. “Then there were a lot of artisans displaying and selling their products at booths. The City Council gave out hot chocolate, and it really was a wonderful event.” 

Window displays portrayed different scenes from the festival’s featured story, “A Christmas Carol,” transporting guests into the world of Ebenezer Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas.  

First published in 1843 by well-known English novelist Charles Dickens, “A Christmas Carol” tells the tale of an elderly miser who is transformed into a kinder man, as the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come alter his perspective. 

“Gibbs Smith is a publishing company in Utah, and they’ve donated 150 books of ‘[A] Christmas Carol’ that we gave out to families,” Monson said. “It’s such a great story, well-known and something that everybody enjoys.” 

A variety of theater groups throughout Cache Valley came together to bring “A Christmas Carol” to life, occupying the window scenes throughout the festival.  

“We had Cache Theatre, Music Theatre West and Smithfield Youth Theatre.” Higginbotham said.  

Smithfield Youth Theatre comprises over 200 children aged 5 through 18, previously putting together productions such as “The Lion King” and “Shrek The Musical”. The group’s 2025 production will be “Alice in Wonderland”.  

“I just loved it all,” Higginbotham said. “The living history actors were probably one of my favorite bits.”  

The festival featured living history actors from 1830s England, embodying the elaborate fashion of Victorian-era London which “A Christmas Carol” was set in.   

“We had a few actors that were just decked out,” Higginbotham said. “We had a Victorian doctor who could tell you what to do if you had typhoid or if a limb was broken and we had another gentleman dressed up as Charles Dickens; he could tell you about the different Christmas stories he’s written, his experience writing Christmas Carol, what was important to him … they were just exceptional.” 

Visitors from across Cache Valley showed up at the festival for a night of shopping and immersion, brought to life by volunteers.  

“We had a good turnout,” Higginbotham said. “It’s the first one we’ve ever done, so we didn’t know how many people we were gonna get, but we had a pretty steady flow all night.”  

The festival was fashioned after a similar storytelling event in Layton, which also brought guests together to dive into the story of “A Christmas Carol”. Smithfield’s rendition added a live-acting and market component for a broader event.  

“What we’ve really done is taken from the festival they’ve done in Layton and added our own touches to it,” Monson said. “It’s for families to be able to come and just enjoy a nice evening of music and of stories, and maybe do a little Christmas shopping.”  

The Smithfield Arts Council, which brought the festival to fruition, has been working to promote the arts in Smithfield since its inception in 2022. Founders of the council Kris and Mike Monson took inspiration from similar efforts throughout Utah.  

“We’d attended a few of their concerts in Layton and some of the things that they’d done with their Arts Council,” Monson said. “We wanted to get something going, so we put it out there for anybody that wanted to be part of this Arts Council in Smithfield.”  

After forming the council and navigating through growing pains, the council began pushing for events like the Storybook Festival to highlight the arts in Smithfield and Logan. 

The festival hosted small businesses and entrepreneurs within the local arts community as part of an effort to revitalize the arts in Smithfield.   

“We didn’t have businesses, per se,” Higginbotham said. “They were all culinary artists, arts-and-craft artists, painters or woodwork artists — so all artists, which was a lot of fun.”  

The council coordinates a few other events during the year.  

“Over the past year we’ve done some pretty cool things,” Monson said. “We started out with our Health Days celebration.”  

The Smithfield Health Days celebration is a week-long event featuring activities such as the Chalk Art festival, family bike rides, youth theatre and a parade, meant to improve the physical and mental health of the community.  

The council also runs a concert series during the summer, with the 2025 series set to feature three concerts and a children’s market aimed at involving local youth in entrepreneurship. Currently, the council is focused on fine-tuning these events before delving into new opportunities.  

“What we’re doing right now is making the events we have done even better,” Monson said.  

The council hopes to include more local vendors and community members in next year’s iteration. 

“We’d like to add more vendors,” Higginbotham said. “We limited our vendors this year just to make sure we didn’t bite off more than we can chew. Next year, we definitely would like to double the number of art vendors from the community.”  

The weather played in the festival’s favor — devoid of snow or rainfall.  

“We were really lucky that the weather was so clear and nice,” Higginbotham. “As it’s an outdoor market, there’s some contingency plans we’ll have to make sure are in place for next year. With the weather this year, we just kind of crossed our fingers and hoped.”  

According to worldpopulationreview.com, Smithfield’s population just surpassed 15,000 in 2024 — which is less than 0.5% of Utah’s overall population.  

“We’re a small town, and that’s what guests felt,” Higginbotham said. “They’re like, ‘This is a small town Christmas; we felt it, and we loved it, and we’ll be back next year.’ ” 

The festival sought to embody Smithfield’s small-town charm by bringing together residents of all ages.  

“It’s involved a lot of people in the community,” Monson said. “That’s probably the most exciting thing for me.”  

The Arts Council and the city of Smithfield hope to turn this festival into a local tradition, sharing stories and bringing the community together for a night of holiday cheer.  

“We’ve already talked a little bit about what story we will do next year,” Monson said. “I just hope people had a wonderful evening, that they had so much fun and look forward to next year.”