Downtown Rutland is remembering how to do the holidays.
The Downtown Rutland Holiday Stroll is back up to full strength this year. Downtown Rutland Partnership Executive Director Nikki Hindman said 26 locations are participating in the Saturday event.
“We are going back to our original promotions, but it seems like the holidays approached very quickly this year,” she said. “We’re trying to put on the appearance of normality as we embrace mask mandates in certain stores. It’s like we’re reinventing the wheel with the same activities.”
The sales, giveaways and treats will start at 9 a.m. with offerings in different spots at different parts of the day. The event includes one grand opening — GreenSpell Plant Shop is slated to finally open its doors this weekend.
“I was in there yesterday,” Hindman said. “It looks amazing. There’s a great selection with a lot of cute gift items.”
The Sound Barrier will once again return for a pop-up on Wales Street and Born to Dance Studio is hosting a vendor market pop-up featuring Perfectly Posh, Pampered Chef and Mary Kay, among others. Pop ups had begun to appear semi-regularly in downtown before the pandemic and Hindman said she sees more in Rutland’s future.
“Arson skate shop started as a pop-up and turned into a permanent business,” she said. “There have been pop-ups at Taso on Center through the summer ... I think that trend is going to continue to rise.”
Santa Claus will make an appearance at Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum, but naughty or nice won’t make a difference for children whose parents didn’t book in advance. Organizers did timed sign-ups for pandemic safety and they filled up in less than a week.
“It wasn’t completely surprising,” Danielle Monroe said. “Part of the reason we did sign-ups was, we wanted to limit availability at once.”
Monroe said it was hard to even get a Santa this year.
“It took us quite a while to work out Santa’s schedule,” she said.
Sales will range from 10% to 50% off and several businesses will conduct giveaways. Dunkin’ Donuts will even come downtown, giving out samples in Depot Park.
gordon.dritschilo
@rutlandherald.com