As I headed out to photograph the Holiday on the Plaza and Holiday Window Walk events last Saturday afternoon, I wondered what new twists I might find to make this year's post a little different than my previous posts over the past three years. The new twist this year turned out to be the large number of people who showed up for the day's festivities. Whether the turnout was attributable to the unseasonably balmy weather, the fabulous publicity all over the media (more on this later), the work of Frances Thompson who produced the 8th Annual Holiday on the Plaza event, the efforts of Dovetail, the CID's (Community Improvement District) marketing agency, or a combination of all of the above, it worked, and worked really well.
I arrived an hour after the event began, and by then the baby animals from Cindy's Zoo were so over being fed from milk bottles the children offered, they refused to drink any more—their bellies were just huge.
Santa was there in his sleigh, which delighted some, and
seemed to make this adorable French Bulldog puppy a bit apprehensive.
Bob Kramer's Marionettes (see earlier post here) entertained a crowd inside Bissinger's, below. The Marionettes studio is located on Laclede, and I understand their holiday show is pretty wonderful. Check the website for more information.
Inside Santa's tent, located on the patio behind 'Scape, there were many activities to choose from, including a holiday hairdo from the stylists at The Paul Mitchell School….
or a building project offered by Home Depot, one of the many sponsors of the event.
This sidewalk scene features a Paul Mitchell student with her own holiday hair color.
Chestnuts were roasting on the corner of Maryland and Euclid,
and a talented brass quintet played beautiful holiday music in front of Coffee Cartel.
Horse-drawn carriage rides along Euclid from Maryland to McPherson were extremely popular.
And on the terrace of the World Chess Hall of Fame, the Donut Man was making bite-size donuts in his fascinating donut maker. He drew a hungry crowd. After the donuts toppeled out of the Willy Wonka-like contraption, they could be sprinkled with assorted toppings.
The life-size chess pieces on the terrace were tricked out in bows for the day. I couldn't help but notice that tutus were the fashion of choice on several of the young girls, above and in the next couple of photos below.
One young fashionista wore the latest Chucks with her skirt, above.
The final picture in today's post shows Zhu Wei's China China sporting appropriate red scarves from Bea and Wade Crowder's pop-up shop, above, located next to Starbucks.
More photos tomorrow.
I’d just like to say Bea and Wade Crowder do so much for the nieghborhood in the short time that they’re here each year—- wish they’d open a permanent shop!