“National company expanding into Eudora, looking to hire” wouldn’t be an inaccurate summation of the changes happening at 702 Main St. in Eudora.

The building, which according to a plaque on its front, opened in 1897 with Kaw Valley State Bank, a 124-seat opera house, and a barber shop and grocery store. Most recently, it was the home of Amy Durkin’s law office.

The building’s Victorian-era architecture makes it a natural fit for the needs of its newest tenant, Megan Hurtig. The ground-floor windows that top out at it 12-foot ceilings are particularly appropriate to the design studio she is opening, Hurtig said.

Actually, it’s to be the design studio of Spartina 449, a Hilton Head, S.C., company owned by her friends and former Kansas City metropolitan area residents Kay Stanley and Curt Seymour, who kept her on as vice president of design when they moved to Daufuskie Island, S.C.

“We are a women’s lifestyle brand sold all over the country,” Hurtig said, listing designer handbags, women’s accessories and jewelry as among its product line.

The company owns a couple of its own stores in South Carolina but mostly markets through retail shops, including Prairie Patches on Massachusetts Street, Hurtig said.

She fulfilled her role as Spartina 449’s design director from her home in rural Linwood for several years until the recently vacated building in downtown Eudora caught her eye, Hurtig said. The spacious studio will allow her to add to the company’s design team when she adds another desk, shelving and other elements to complete the ground floor’s current makeover.

“We make women’s journals and other paper products,” she said. “I’m looking for a print designer, hopefully a KU art student or a former Hallmark artist.”

It’s possible she would hire other designers in the future, she said. Meanwhile, Hurtig, whose children attend Eudora schools, is adapting well to her new work environment.

“I just love Main Street,” she said. “It just has a quintessential American cuteness.”

Baldwin City will honor two mainstays of its at Saturday’s Festival of Lights with a 6:30 p.m. reception at the Baldwin City Parks and Recreation office, 705 High St.: longtime former fire chief Allen Craig and his friend Gary Brown. The two men, who are also grand marshals of the parade, teamed up long ago to spread holiday joy for a generation of Baldwin City youngsters at the annual downtown holiday ceremony that is now known as the Festival of Lights. Brown, as Santa Claus, rode in an antique firetruck that Craig drove to many Christmas tree lighting ceremonies. Also honored at the reception will be Tammy Michael and Lucretia Carlson, who handed the festival-organizing duties off this year to Baldwin City Chamber executive director Jeannette Blackmar and chamber communication specialist Wendy Conover.

The Festival of Lights Parade will start at 6 p.m., and will travel the traditional route from the north end of Baker University on Eighth Street south to High Street and then east to Joe Spurgeon Park. Blackmar said there were 15 floats from businesses, nonprofits and individuals entered, or about double the amount of a year ago.

“We had a deadline,” she said. “But if anyone shows up and wants to enter, we won’t turn them away.”

The day’s schedule is:

• 9 a.m., breakfast with Santa at the Baldwin Elementary School Intermediate Center; Festival of Wreaths and Trees at the Lumberyard Arts Center, 718 High St.

• 10 a.m., Santa Claus Express at Midland Railway, 1515 High St.

• Noon, holiday home tour

• 12:30 p.m., Gingerbread House Party, Lumberyard Arts Center.

• 1 p.m., Santa Claus Express at Midland Railway, 1515 High St.

• 3 p.m., Gingerbread House Party, Lumberyard Arts Center.

• 5 p.m., holiday dinner, Baldwin First United Methodist Church, Eighth and Grove streets; Victorian carolers, Lumberyard Arts Center

• 6 p.m., Festival of Lights Parade

• 6:30 p.m., tree lighting; fireworks display; reception for Tammy Michael, Lucretia Carlson, Alan Craig and Gary Brown.

6:45 p.m., BCRC raffle; pictures with Santa at Joe Spurgeon Park.

The Clearfield United Methodist Church, 597 East 2200 Road (County Road 1066), will have its annual German Christmas celebration starting at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10, at the church. Activities will include a bratwurst dinner and crafts show from 4 to 6 pm. and a tree lighting and music from 4:30 to 7 p.m.