Shepherdstown Festive Friday draws crowd with late-night shopping, seasonal activities

Community members take a break from shopping, as they enjoy s’mores around a fire pit by Town Hall on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — With most of Shepherdstown’s shop only operating during the daytime, some shoppers with long work hours have found themselves unable to patronize the town’s businesses during the Christmas season. And so, the Corporation of Shepherdstown’s leadership set out to change that, by asking all of Shepherdstown’s businesses to remain open until 9 p.m. this past Friday night.

Shepherdstown Festive Friday proved to be a big success, according to Mayor James Gatz.

“There were so many people here!” Gatz said. “It’s been incredibly rewarding, to see how well everything turned out.”

Gatz expressed his appreciation for Town Council member Shannon Thomas, who organized Shepherdstown Festive Friday. The event featured a number of incentives for local residents to come to downtown Shepherdstown, other than for the late night shopping, including: a free showing of “A Nightmare Before Christmas” in the Shepherdstown Opera House, food and drink specials at local restaurants, a coffee and hot chocolate stand in town square run by Amy & Alex’s Homemade Ice Cream and Coffee, Christmas caroling by the Shepherd University Chamber Singers at the beginning of the night, a dance troupe performance and a fire pit and s’mores station by Town Hall, which was run by the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department.

“Shannon’s working a whole lot to bring a lot more energy to the town!” Gatz said. “This is the start of it, I hope.”

Dickinson & Wait Craft Gallery owner Meredith Wait, left, chats with Town Council member Marcy Bartlett and a few other shoppers in her shop on Friday night. Tabitha Johnston

The energy had clearly made its way to Dickinson & Wait Craft Gallery, as one of its owners, Meredith Wait, remarked on the impressive turnout.

“Shannon came in and asked us if we would be interested in doing this, so we agreed to give it a whirl,” Wait said. “We’ve been doing this 33 years, so we’ve seen all kinds of things like this tried. I think marketing is a big reason behind any event’s success — she did something different than was previously done before, because people are out! There was enough of a turnout to warrant us doing this again.”

At the top of German Street, the shops didn’t see as heavy of a turnout, which leaves some room for improvement if this event is held again in the future, according to On the Wings of Dreams staff member Rebekka Hudson.

“I don’t think a lot of people are coming up this way,” Hudson said.

However, some of the customers in On the Wings of Dreams said that they might not have visited the shop this season, if it hadn’t been for the event.

“We definitely lingered in town longer than we would have otherwise,” said Harpers Ferry resident Alison Mee, who attended the event with her family. “We had to run an errand this way and when we learned there was going to be a bonfire, we said, ‘Let’s go into town!’ It’s been really nice.”

Mee said that her family enjoyed dinner at Maria’s Taqueria together and visited Creative Procrastinations & Whimsical Necessities, before making their way up German Street to On the Wings of Dreams.

“I read something years ago, that found that the best way to support a town’s small businesses is to try to go to three places when you’re going shopping. Usually, you only go to visit one business, but if you go to two more places, you can make a big impact,” Mee said. “This is a great little town, so we definitely want to make sure their small businesses stay open!”