OT: Christmas Walk Ideas

Hi All, I am looking for help from all of the people here on the IL board. I own a business in McHenry and am a member of our local Downtown Business Association. We host an annual Christmas walk and I am looking for ideas. I was a part of this group several years ago and backed out after many of the members (older group) didn't like change and just wanted to do the same thing over and over again. Well this year I joined again and just discovered that things haven't changed much. This year they are even more unorganized than normal. I am looking for some good ideas. We hold the day on a Sunday in November. We have a parade that includes many Harley bikers that join the parade and bring toys for tots. We have carolers, a petting zoo, Horse and buggy rides, and even 2 trolleys that bring people to the three different downtown areas in our town(McHenry)

I am looking for any other ideas on what can be done to make this event even better. We our goal is to offer a good time for the entire family at the same time bring people to the downtown business district and see the many great shops and help us all stay alive and not die to the big box stores.

 

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. Mike

What about some kind of store decorating contest?   Or having the kids in the town decorate the windows of the stores for Christmas with that special paint they use on car windows and such.  I don't know what it is called, but it was all over the store windows here for homecoming!   Hmmm let me think about it some more... What kind of business do you own there?

I own a printing company so I dont do any selling that day but I do benifet by exposer. We have been here for 41 years but many people dont know that we exist. Many stores say the same thing. We are located next to a popular resturant here in town but many people don't pay attention. I guess its normal. The merchants decorate their own windows. I was thinking about having a coloring contest for the yound kids and have them bring them to the stores durring the walk and judge them at a later date for a prize or two. 

Hi Mike, After the parade, have Santa set up someplace downtown, and take free pictures of the kids with him.  You csn also set up beverage stands, charging $.50 for a hot chocolate or coffee.  Get a church group to bake and sell gingerbread men. Sell for $.50 each.  Set up a Christmas craft booth for kids to make and take home something they make. Here again, a small fee could be charged.  Ask some church groups to sing carols that day all over town,  Have a tree lighting service in the park or whereever the town puts up the community tree. Then ask everyone who decorates thier home or yard to light up that night too. Give a prize for the best display. ( It doesn't have to be done that night) Hope this helps. Lisa

Rent an old fashioned popcorn cart and give small bags of popcorn away and also give away hot chocolate. Make it so they need to come into the store to get it instead of giving it away on the sidewalk infront of the store. I will try and think of a couple of other things but that were a couple of the first things that came to mind. edited to add Maybe have the kids come into the store and have them make their own paper snow flakes. You can buy that "foam art" stuff at Michael's or JoAnn fabric and crafts and you can have the kids come into the store and make little ornaments or something for the holiday. You can get a big tub of the little different shaped pieces and they can do their own project. You can also get them at Oriental Trading Company http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=search& No=0&D=christmas+foam+art&Ntt=christmas+foam+art&Ntk=all&Dx= mode%2bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%2bmatchallpartial&event=butt on.search&N=0&origin=searchMain.jsp

Mike, You should check out the Christmas Walk in Geneva.  It won't help you for this year because it is after yours but it may give you some ideas for future events.  We have been going to the one in Geneva for many years and it has always been a popular event.  Here is a link that gives some basic info and dates of the event.  http://www.genevachamber.com/christmaswalk.html   Hepe this helps. Dan

Thanks Dan, I will check it out. Everyone has offered many good Ideas. We actually do many of them now. Our event has been going on for many years. I guess our event is already popular but there is one problem. We have three different down town areas. The two areas are only about 2 blocks apart and have been the main area for the event for years. The third street (My street) just joined the group a few years ago. The problem with our street is that there aren't enough retail business to attract the bulk of the crowd to come and visit our area. We do have 2 free trolleys that shuttle the people to the different areas but many choose not to hit our street. A few of us on our street are trying to come up with ideas to get people to come down by us. We already have Santa at one of our shops for the kids to get a free picture with. Thanks to all of you for the many good ideas. Mike