South Bend community celebrates “Christmas at Copshaholm”

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The South Bend community gathered at the Oliver Mansion on Friday to celebrate “Christmas at Copshaholm” – an evening get-together featuring holiday festivities.

Throughout the night, guests got to tour the entire mansion, which was furnished with plenty of holiday decorations along with 10 Christmas trees on display.

There were several activities for guests to participate in as well as a performance of “Twelve Days of Christmas” every 30 minutes in the ballroom.

There was also a performance by the Holy Family School Choir.

Marilyn Thompson, the Marketing Director for the History Museum, said that the mansion has a special place in the community.

"They gave us the house completely intact,” Thompson said. “So the house is shown exactly as it looked when the Oliver family lived here. It's a very special home. We feel very privileged to share this with the community."

A popular activity at the mansion is the “Find the Elf on the Copsha-shelf,” where guests try to locate a hidden elf on each floor of the mansion.

Children also got to visit Santa Claus during the celebration and decorate the holiday tree for the History Museum with ornaments.

At 7 p.m., the “Lighting of the Gardens” took place – where the holiday lights that decorate Oliver Gardens are turned on.

The Bakery for Martin’s Supermarket provided holiday treats for the guests.

The celebration lasted from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The mansion was named Copshaholm when the Oliver family originally lived there.