Downtown Stillwater’s Main Street came alive Dec. 12–15 as Candy Town filled the area with holiday activities and a community toy drive to benefit children in need. The event featured a gingerbread man scavenger hunt through local businesses, a gingerbread house competition at the Water Street Inn, roaming carolers alongside visits from Santa. Through the Holiday Hope program, community members were encouraged to donate toys to children in need.
On Dec. 14, a Toy Trolley on Main Street collected new, unwrapped toys donated to the Holiday Hope program. The donations went to children who live within the Stillwater Area School District and are experiencing financial hardship.
The impact of the Holiday Hope program reaches hundreds of local families. “This year, the program will help over 1,200 students and 400 families,” Cathleen Hess said, a member of The Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce.
Although donations were a big part of Candy Town, there was also plenty of fun on Dec. 13- 20 with the gingerbread man scavenger hunt. Visitors traveled from one small business to another, searching for gingerbread man ornaments. Ornaments were hidden in participating stores downtown. Visitors collected stamps on a card, which were entered for the chance to win a grand prize.
John Leaf is the co-owner of Wild River Running, which was a participating store in the Gingerbread Man scavenger hunt. Leaf said events like Candy Town “strengthen ties with businesses to the community as a whole” by bringing new people into places that they would not otherwise venture into and creating new friendships.
The Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization that aims to bridge businesses and the community together by hosting fun events like Candy Town. They have hosted three other weekend events downtown, including Shop Small Weekend, Twinkle Weekend and Furry Friends Weekend. These events are made possible by their partnership with Hometown for the Holidays.
Hess said that the entire Hometown for the Holidays team hopes that Candy Town Weekend will make people remember how much fun they had in the beautiful and historic downtown Stillwater.
Another highlight of Candy Town Weekend was the gingerbread house contest on Dec. 14, which welcomed participants of all ages and skill levels. There were special ribbons awarded for the best use of candy, best local theme and people’s choice. The finished houses were displayed at the Water Street Inn.
Junior Reese Bockman said she was “most excited to participate in the gingerbread house contest because my family and I have always made gingerbread houses every year.” The gingerbread house contest seemed to be one of the main attractions of Candy Town, with entries from children all the way up to pastry chefs from local restaurants.
Fun events like Candy Town bring the community together to celebrate the holidays and create a fun and joyful atmosphere, and as Leaf said, “community-focused events get people downtown and celebrating the holidays together. It is a fun way to participate in everything that downtown Stillwater has to offer.” Whether it is donating, shopping, scavenger hunting or gingerbread house building, events in downtown Stillwater bring the community together for bigger reasons than themselves, not only to have fun but to help out community members in need.
