Christmas Downtown in Strathmore

By Linda Jensen Times Contributor

On Nov. 15-16, Strathmore’s downtown core merchants will welcome the community to a vibrant, interactive Christmas Downtown event.
This is a chance for local Strathmore niche market entrepreneurs to showcase their work. Each store has their own special way of welcoming guests.
With home baking or nutmegged eggnog to sample, festive music, unique giftware, raffles, photos, art, lights or demonstrations to see, patrons will be inspired.
Linda and Brian Code of Strathmore’s Florist have been hosting an open house at their downtown location for 38 years.
“November is a quiet time (and) an open house is a traditional way of connecting with people on a fun, friendly basis,” said Linda Code. “It is the official start of the Christmas season and a way to say thank you to our customers. We want to share the opportunity, people and benefits of the downtown traffic.”
Brian Code spearheaded last year’s cooperative open house event. This year, with the help of Marlene Risdon from The Rack on Third and Nicole Cordes from Back To Good, more excitement has been generated from the downtown retail community.
Last year, nine businesses participated; this year, 26 have committed to take part. All the downtown retailers will have lists of open house participants to give to friends, guests and customers.
“It is about sharing our appreciation for our customers simply because (day-to-day) we are so focused on our work that we don’t always take that time,” said Brian Code. “It’s also about reminding our customers that it’s downtown, it’s here.
“We all benefit from our neighbors,” added Code. “Downtown success is success for everything.”