Maeson Wagner
@MWagnerCourant
Downtown New Canaan transforms into something of a fairytale Friday, December 5, with glittering lights, beautiful holiday decorations and an overall festive atmosphere. The New Canaan Holiday Stroll is one of the town’s most important and longstanding holiday traditions and was held on Friday, December 6 and Saturday, December 7.
Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, Tucker Murphy, has been running the Holiday Stroll for the past 10 years, “The Holiday Stroll is such a wonderful night to spend in our town, it’s very magical and it sets the mood for the whole season going forward,” Ms. Murphy said.
When planning the stroll Murphy keeps in mind the phrase, a rising tide floats all boats. “If every store really goes out of their way in order to make their store look beautiful and has the right product it is good for everybody,” she said, “Everybody is getting a positive experience and everybody will stay in town and every store will have more business.”
The Holiday Stroll preparation begins in June with the endless to-do list that the Chamber of Commerce needs to complete before the night of the event. “I have to secure all of the permits, we have to get insurance, we have to find an empty storefront that we can use for ‘Santa’s Workshop’. I have to line up all of the entertainment groups, I have to make sure Santa is available,” Ms. Murphy said. “And then, making sure that the town is all on board, everything from the public works that helps us close down the streets, the police all of that.”
The stroll began at 5pm on Friday with several local entertainment groups, including the Performing Arts Conservatory, New Canaan Dance Academy and The Studio showcasing their talent. Freshman and member of the New Canaan Dance Academy’s company Ellerie Tauber performed a variety of dances at the stroll this Friday night, “I remember I used to go (to the Holiday Stroll) and watch the older girls who used to dance and sing and I thought it was very special and definitely got me in the holiday cheer,” she said.
Throughout the evening many of the restaurants on Main Street will be serving delicious refreshments including a ‘S’mores Station’ run by New Canaan Cares. “All of the restaurants do something fun, either inside or outside of the store, whatever they have planned,” Ms. Murphy said.
The festivities didn’t end on Friday night, however. “Santa will be at Houlihan Lawrence (161 Elm Street) all day,” she said, “he will be there and people can go in and there will be no charge. There will be someone taking a photo but people can also do it with their own phones.”
“It really is the best part of the season,” Ms. Murphy said. “The kids are out, all the way up to adults, we get to see different performances from dance and choral groups.”
