11/30/2009 1:28:00 AM Party night offers plenty to do Merchants call night a success
One of the biggest attractions of the night was the live store front display at Cabbage and Kings.
Party has something for everyone
It was a night of something for everyone.
The 2009 Downtown Party Night was full of events. Some were new. Some were old. All brought large crowds to downtown Crawfordsville.
There were several sites that drew the crowds.
Of course, there was the long line for Santa. The crowds were long as the children, and some older folks, told Santa what was on their wish list.
Something new was a live display in the front windows of Cabbage and Kings Antique Mall on South Washington Street. In the front window, four store employees depicted a scene from the Christmas Story with a family of four sitting in the living room.
It was just something the employees decided to do.
"We wanted to do something a little different," Sandra Tharp said. "I had heard of stores doing something like this before and we had a lamp like the one in the story, we built it around that. It was a lot of fun and we have had a large crowd outside the window throughout the night."
There also was a book signing in one of the buildings.
Emerson Houck, who is promoting his new book Hoosiers All, which is a book about high school basketball, said he was proud to be part of the night's activities.
"This is what small-town America is all about," he said. "This is a great event. The traffic through here has been great and everyone has been very excited. It's one of the best events I have been associated with and I am very proud to be a part of it."
Also new this year was a decorating contest for the downtown merchants. The winner of that was Milligan's Flowers & Gifts.
Sharon Rosen said decorating the front windows is a long process.
"It takes a lot of brainstorming," she said. "I have probably been thinking about it for about a year. We just love doing it and the whole staff helps. From the start to finish it probably took us about three full days to get it all put up."
Another hot spot seemed to be Chapel books where live entertainment, provided by Joe and Rebecca Congelton of Attica, known as The Surrendering, performed before a full house for most of the night as free cookies and other treats were being offered as well as coffee.
For those who needed a break, the Vanity Theater was open and offered a show every hour that lasted about 30 minutes.
It was a free show with local talent performing many of the Christmastime favorites on stage. And, like many of the businesses downtown, they were offering free refreshments.
Most of the downtown merchants seemed to be pleased with the turnout at the annual Downtown Party night, which took place Saturday.
John Dixon, one of the owners of Curly's Bills, moved into the open store at the corner of East Main Street and South Green Street, along with a few other merchants for the one night to take advantage of the event.
"We wanted to be part of the festivities," he said as his shop normally operates at 200 West Spring St. "The traffic through here tonight has been great. We have gotten a lot of exposure, made some sales, made a lot of contacts and met a lot of people. From our perspective it has been a great experience."
The experience was so great that Dixon said the store could someday possibly occupy the space they were at for the one night.
Another first-time store reaping some of the benefits of a crowded downtown was Games, located on South Washington Street.
The store opened for business in May, so this was its first chance to see Downtown Party Night in action.
"I think it is a great ideal," said Jim Johnson, an employee of the store. "We are normally open until 8 p.m. on Saturday but we are staying open later tonight and the traffic has definitely increased. It's great to see a downtown that does something like this. I also do some work in Lebanon and I was at a coffee shop over there and the mayor over there said he wanted to promote their downtown and I told him he needed to talk with Judy North (of Main Street, which helps sponsors Downtown Party Night)."
Rick Creek, of Creek Jewelers, was also pleased with the turnout.
"We have had a pretty solid stream of customers since about 7 p.m.," he said. "We are pretty happy."
Milligan's Flowers & Gifts was another store that was busy.
"The weather is great and we have been packed since we began," said Susan Rosen, of Milligan's Flowers & Gifts. "This is what being part of a downtown is all about. Everyone is coming in and they are excited and there is just a buzz in the atmosphere tonight."
That atmosphere was everywhere, even on the corner of West Main Street and Washington Street in front of heathcliff, where Crawfordsville Mayor Charlie Coons spent the evening ringing the bell for the Salvation Army.
This is just a great event and it brings back memories of what downtown used to be like," he said. "I have been standing here and people have walked up and said they have seen people they haven't seen in years and they talk about things from the past. It's great for the businesses. It's great for our residents and it's great for the Crawfordsville."
At the end of the night there was a drawing for the grand prize winner for the This Place Matters Grand Prize contest (worth more than $400), which was Scott Voliva. The winner of the Party Night Survey / This Place Matters Prize Pack (worth $75) was Colleen Sowders.
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