November 30, 2006

Downtown Yellow Springs was crowded with shoppers all through the unseasonably warm Thanksgiving weekend. On Friday, Yellow Springs Brass entertained passersby in front of the Emporium, with contributions going to the Yellow Springs Emergency Welfare Fund. Band members are, from left, Robert Love, Dave Vrooman, Charlie Bunton, Steve Vrooman and Bruce Heckman.

By Diane Chiddister

While village merchants have sponsored a holiday shopping weekend for almost a decade, this year’s event will be bigger, more event-filled and more creative than those in the past, according to organizers, who say the change reflects new energy and enthusiasm among members of the Yellow Springs Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s something brewing, something in the air,” Chamber Coordinator Adrienne Chesire said in a recent interview. “We’re rolling now.”

Holiday in the Village will take place this Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 2–3, in downtown Yellow Springs. Over the weekend local shopkeepers will offer good deals and good food for shoppers’ pleasure, as they have every year since the event’s inception around 1998.

But shoppers will find many new events as well, including carriage rides, live window art, a wine tasting, opportunities for both kids and pets to pose with Santa and marshmallows to toast over an open fire.

Just as exciting as shopowners’ new ideas has been a revitalized sense of cooperation between local business people, Chesire said. For instance, for the first time, Antioch College, Antioch University McGregor and the Community Children’s Center contributed to a Chamber of Commerce regional advertising campaign, even though the schools wouldn’t directly benefit from the campaign. Also, much of the advertising focuses on downtown Yellow Springs as a whole rather than on individual businesses, an approach which benefits all downtown shops whether or not they are Chamber members.

“It’s a group effort, stores pulling for each other,” Chesire said. “We’re becoming the Yellow Springs we are meant to be and used to be.”

The Holiday in the Village events will include a visit from Santa and his elves, who will be on stage at the Little Art Theatre Saturday from 1–5 p.m. Children may share their wish lists with Santa and also pose for a photo.

Children and their keepers may also sip free hot chocolate and toast marshmallows over an open fire at the Corner Cone, which, while closed for the season, will provide the sweets and bonfire for the event. Shoppers may also take a leisurely horse-drawn carriage ride downtown on Saturday or Sunday, sponsored by the Springs Motel.

New this year will be live window art downtown as Queen Victoria and several helpers, recently discovered to be living in Yellow Springs, create holiday ornaments behind stores’ front windows at the Emporium, Deaton’s hardware, Village Artisans, the Nolaa Gallery in Kings Yard, the Epic Bookshop and Glen Garden Gifts. That event will be coordinated by Nancy Mellon and Corrine Bayraktaroglu, who have close connections to the queen.

Also new this year will be Claws for Celebration at the King House in Kings Yard, the former site of Global Gallery. The event, which is sponsored by Cathy Christian of Ye Olde Trail Tavern, will feature a pet psychic, pet products and opportunities for pets to pose with Santa.

Holiday in the Village will also feature a beer and wine tasting at Main Squeeze from 7–9 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2. Street food vendors will also be present downtown.

The additional events reflect both downtown shopkeepers’ new ideas and renewed energy to see them through, according to Priscilla Moore, owner of Mr. Fub’s Party and chair of the Chamber’s marketing -committee.

“This whole campaign has been get the idea, then do it, get the idea, do it,” Moore said.

Renewed enthusiasm for the holiday season can also be seen in this year’s downtown decorations, which both Moore and Chesire see as better than ever.

“The town looks spectacular,” according to Chesire, who thanked Deaton’s Do It Best Hardware for offering a 15 percent discount on decorations for local business owners.

Much of the credit for the re-energized holiday event can be given to the Chamber’s marketing committee, according to Chesire. The group initiated a new holiday marketing campaign, which is running ads in the Dayton Daily News and the Springfield News-Sun. The group also bought twice-daily ads on WYSO during the holiday season.

Chamber marketing committee members are Moore, Mary Alice Wilson of Dark Star Books, Donna Lynn Johnson of Main Squeeze, Terre Pope of Global Gallery, Donna Avnaim of Deja Vu, Joanne McKee of Rita Caz Jewelers and Sherryl Kostic of “would you could you” In A Frame.

Based on sales from Thanksgiving weekend, when tourists streamed through Yellow Springs enjoying shopping and unseasonably warm weather, the new marketing campaign seems to be working. The sales at her own store were up about 10 percent compared to last year, Moore said.

Moore cites last spring’s Buy Local campaign, the Chamber’s increased efforts and the new Community Information Project (CIP) as all contributing to the revitalization of downtown businesses. Wherever it comes from, the energy seems to be building, Chesire said.

“There’s an enthusiasm that’s been contagious,” she said.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com