Holiday stroll, tree lighting, parade on horizon

Downtown events expected to bring more people into Shawano businesses
By: 
Lynn Zaffrann
Correspondent

Excitement is growing for two holiday events scheduled for downtown Shawano in the next few days.

The Holiday Stroll and Tree Lighting is on Nov. 27, and the Santa Parade is on Dec. 3.

The annual Holiday Stroll and Tree Lighting includes downtown businesses offering special in-store promotions from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and a variety of holiday events at Franklin Park from 3-5 p.m., concluding with the lighting of a 65-foot decorated Christmas tree.

This event is the kick-off to holiday shopping downtown, coinciding with Shop Small Saturday. Downtown businesses will have special promotions and features to inspire shoppers to focus their Christmas shopping in local stores.

“It is so important to shop local, the dollars stay in our local community,” said Lindsay Johnson, Shawano Business Improvement District (BID) coordinator.

Johnson noted the importance of supporting local businesses downtown, because they, in turn, offer sponsorship and funding to local organizations, such as sports activities.

Small Business Saturday is a national event dedicated to celebrating local businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, encouraging customers to shop locally.

According to Johnson, last year’s Shop Small Saturday event was strongly supported by area residents, despite the impact of the pandemic. A greater financial impact is anticipated this year. Shopping small and shopping local will make a big impact on the community, she noted.

“We have seen local events grow in 2021,” Johnson said. “Everything this year has been larger than it has been in the past, and it’s great to see the growth.”

In addition, the Franklin Park event from 3-5 p.m. is expected to be even stronger than last year, as evidenced by newly involved businesses who haven’t participated previously in the stroll.

“New community partners want to be involved in the Stroll and have reached out to participate, such as the Optimist Club and saYPro (Shawano Area Young Professionals),” Johnson said.

The Optimist Club will provide a free holiday children’s goody bag and collect non-perishable food items for the Shawano Area Food Pantry and Resource Center. Toys for Tots will be collected by saYPro, and they will also sponsor a children’s scavenger hunt.

In addition to children’s activities sponsored by Shawano Area Early Childhood Partnership, children can visit with Santa and his reindeer, and attend story time every half-hour starting at 3 p.m. with Shawano Public Library staff. Shawano Parks and Recreation will help visitors roast marshmallows and make s’mores. A stocking provided by Shawano Orthodontics will be given to each child.

Hot chocolate and sweets are available for purchase, while strolling through the 65 decorated Christmas trees sponsored by local businesses and organizations. Music will be provided by Terryoke’s Mountain Top Entertainment and Wolf River Dental will sponsor horse and wagon rides.

“It’s like a Hallmark movie,” said Johnson of the Franklin Park destination.

Shawano’s 27th annual Santa Parade will kick off the holiday season with a spectacle of floats proceeding the appearance of Santa and Mrs. Claus through downtown on Dec. 3, beginning at 6 p.m. The parade is once again sponsored by Charlie’s County Market in Shawano, as it has been for many years. This year’s parade theme is “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

Starting out the parade will be a Shawano Police vehicle, a color guard and the mayor, followed by city of Shawano trucks and the Charlie’s County Market float.

Santa and Mrs. Claus are the main attraction at the parade, of course. Children are welcome to visit with Santa after the parade, at the Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group office, 105 S. Washington St.

The parade route starts at Elizabeth and Main streets, travels down Main to Green Bay Street. It will turn left on Green Bay and head one block to Washington Street. Another left turn on Washington will take the parade to its conclusion at Franklin Park.

Johnson noted that floats can still be entered until the day before the parade by visiting www.shawanodowntown.com and clicking on the Events tab.