Holiday retail event, Merry Main Street, shifts strategy while Block 34 is under construction
Nov. 8—Editor's note: The dates for the event have been corrected to Nov. 25.
Downtown Stillwater's holiday event, Merry Main Street, is transforming into another configuration to encourage shopping and spread the holiday cheer. Due to construction beginning on Block 34, this winter, event organizers looked at how they could place key elements in new locations.
The tree lighting ceremony will be 6 p.m., Nov. 25, on the Payne County Courthouse lawn at West Sixth Avenue and South Husband Street. Santa will be available for photos starting at 6:30 p.m. at his workshop at the corner of West Seventh Avenue and South Duncan Street, right across from the community center and First Baptist Church.
Along with Santa, the Merry Main Street hospitality dome will host events like a holiday cocktail class from 7-9 p.m. on Nov. 25 with Robert Raab. The two-hour class includes hors d'oeuvres and tastings for $40 per person.
To help spread holiday cheer, the Stillwater Community Singers will begin caroling at the Christmas tree lighting event on the courthouse lawn. They then will make their way down Main Street, stopping at hot spots along the way to Chris Salmon plaza.
"If people want to join, that's great," Zannotti said. "Keep that festive ... small-town feel."
The City is currently installing ADA-compliant sidewalks on the corner lot to improve accessibility and safety.
"That lot actually belongs to the church across the street (First Baptist Church) and they have been gracious enough to let us utilize that space," Merry Main Street co-founder and Vice-Mayor Alane Zannotti said. "There will be electricity put to that Block with wi-fi. We are doing lights in the trees and more lights on the north side of the community center. We want that place to be a magical block, if you will."
Zannotti and Merry Main Street co-founder Shannon Williams-Daniel always wanted a holiday shopping event encompassing all downtown and not just Block 34.
Chris Salmon plaza will again be lit up with a holiday-themed LED light show, thanks to ProValue.net. Onlookers can tune their car radios to hear the soundtrack to the light show displayed on the plaza and throughout Main Street.
But it's not just downtown that has received investment in creating a more festival atmosphere. Last year the City of Stillwater spent funds to spruce up the holiday decor in the Campus Corner retail area on South Knoblock Street and West University Avenue.
"I know the City of Stillwater puts money in the budget every year for Christmas, and I don't want people to think they are utilizing all of the money for Merry Main Street," Zannotti said. "I hope Washington Street gets on board at some point and wants to decorate so that there would be these pockets of retail lit up for the holidays."
Zannotti and Williams-Daniel spearheaded the efforts to start Merry Main Street in 2019. They worked with city staff and downtown stakeholders to make the retail pop-up holiday event a success. Multiple Merry Main Street pop-up vendors, like Social 174 and Twisted Horn have found homes on Main Street.
This year the co-founders have gathered volunteers and formed a committee to keep the momentum going.
"Prairie Arts and Stillwater Martial Arts are the two entities that have been planning what's happening in the large dome," Zannotti said. "It's becoming a larger than just Shannon and I."
