Bradley Barber prepares one of the snow machines for a test before the Candlelight Shopping event on Tuesday. The 10 machines should fill the air with snowfall and Christmas music during Washington's Christmas shopping season. It's going to snow, snow, snow in Washington's shopping district every Friday and Saturday night in December, and everybody's talking about it - even Christmas shoppers who'll travel from out of town for the experience.

"The snow is the buzz all over Georgia!" said Tourism Director Ashley Barnett. "Some of our stores will be staying open until 8 p.m. on the weekends, so in between the snow falling, you can get your Christmas shopping done. I am so excited!"

Word is getting out via television ads and rack cards, she said. "The snow commercials on WJBF News Channel 6 will start airing this week," she said. "These commercials go all over the CSRA, more than 25 counties plus the Aiken and North Augusta areas."

Thanks to technology developed by the Disney Corporation for their Celebration, Florida town square, and brought to Washington by Bradley Barber, a fresh snowfall will descend on The Square every hour at 6, 7, and 8 p.m. on weekend nights in December. "I saw this same process in Florida while visiting my parents a few years ago," Barber said. "Katherine and I thought it was very special and festive so we had the thought of trying it here."

The material used, "dry snow," is the result of a chemical process very similar to a fog machine, Barnett said. "The result is beautiful flurries flying through the night air, staying aloft like real snow and falling slowly to the ground, where it will evaporate after five to seven minutes. There's no clean-up, it's non-toxic, and it's not slippery at all."

With help from several citizens, Barber has mounted the snow machines on each of 10 light poles that surround the inner perimeter of the Square's green space. "Kurt Wolfe designed the boxes that the snow machines are housed in, and Ronnie Cofer of Fareway Building Supply donated them. Lamont Lannae donated his bucket lift for the whole month of December to keep the snow machines up," Barnett said. "We couldn't have done it without them."

The Tourism Office will control the machines and the Christmas music that will play at low volume from each pole, she said. "The volume will be appropriate and not interfere with business, only enhance it," she said.

Snow for Christmas shopping is not a one-time thing, Barber said. "We already have bigger plans for next year. We hope that this concept continues to grow every year and that it has a great positive effect on the business community on and around The Square."

Two sponsors, McDonald's of Washington and the Washington Little Theater Company, are making the snow possible, Barnett said. "And a big thank you to Bradley Barber and Old South Media for all of his hard work on the machines and organizing this great event. This will be an annual event that we hope locals and visitors will enjoy every December for their holiday season."