Christmas Walk a success
Dec. 6—GREENSBURG — A near record number of people took advantage of Saturday's annual Holiday Walk on the Square.
Several businesses offered extended hours to welcome shoppers in amazing numbers, proving that the MainStreet Greensburg organization is indeed promoting downtown merchants.
Folks were invited to test their skating skills on a live ice-skating rink installed for the occasion in the city parking lot on the corner of Franklin and Main streets.
In addition, shoppers and merrymakers had many types of Christmas festivities to enjoy throughout the day.
An ice sculptor carved a frozen snowman of sorts for selfie-takers, and Painting the Town on Main Street invited holiday crafters to paint their own Christmas ornaments.
Holiday movies like "White Christmas" and the Peanuts Christmas movie were playing on the Tree County Players' stage and upstairs at United Methodist Church on Broadway Street, along with holiday book reading at Frogs and Fairies and free hot chocolate at The Branch coffeehouse.
Holiday crafting and festive holiday games entertained children at First Baptist Church from 3 to 8 p.m. and Community Church served free bowls of steaming chili at Phase Financial on Broadway Street, all while Santa's reindeer made an appearance on the Square to the delight of many wide-eyed children.
The entire day was capped off in traditional Greensburg fashion with the WTRE Lighted Parade featuring Santa and The Grinch.
The event was sponsored in part by the Decatur County Visitors Center (Tourism), and Director Philip Deiwert was pleased with the day.
"These events are awesome because they bring the whole community together," Deiwert said. "There are so many good people, great businesses, and unique and interesting things to do in Greensburg, and having an event downtown gives us an opportunity to showcase them. It takes so much work, and we are so lucky to have so many people, churches, businesses, and community organizations all willing to collaborate and put in the effort to pull off an event that was really fun and really special for so many people."
MainStreet's Amber Coyne was pleased with the day as well.
"This year's Holiday Walk downtown was amazing!" she said. "We saw so many members of the community come out to see Santa, ice skate, and visit downtown businesses. We could not be more proud of our members, volunteers, and sponsors."
Contact Bill Rethlake at 812-663-3111, ext 217011 or email bill.rethlake@greensburgdailynews.com
