A new take on a holiday tradition will take place in West Liberty next week.
Instead of having the Holiday Open House one day, this year it will be held over two days Nov. 19 and 20.
“You could spend the whole weekend here in West Liberty,” said West Liberty Chamber Director Charles Brooke. “It was one day previously all years before this. I brought it up to the (chamber) board and said ‘I think overall we have a lot here in West Liberty. Why not showcase it?’”
People come to town to shop but do they stay and have dinner or drinks? Brooke said. This is why he proposed having the holiday open house over two days so people stay in town and enjoy what West Liberty has to offer.
“On Nov. 19, most of our retail locations are going to be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.,” he said. “Not everyone has to follow that but what we truly just want to overall showcase is come downtown to West Liberty Iowa and enjoy the weekend.”
The Chamber of Commerce will have a vendor fair Saturday from 12 – 5 p.m. in the WeLead building and will also be taking can good donations.
“We will be the location for our Chamber of Commerce Food Drive,” he added. “We are going to help the West Liberty Food Pantry.”
Besides shopping opportunities, a pub-crawl will be held Saturday afternoon with a lot of the restaurants and bars Brooke said. The New Strand Theater will also have showings of Blank Panther: Wakanda Forever as well.
Sunday, a classic holiday open house will take place from 12 – 5 p.m. Retail locations will be open, Brooke said. A map will be available in next week’s edition of The Index for people to see who is participating.
Trees for A Cause will be held at the Muscatine County Fairgrounds from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., he said. There will be multiple vendors there and people can put money for whatever causes the trees are supporting.
Vendor fairs will be held at the West Liberty Golf and Country Club in the afternoon and again at the WeLead building, Brooke said. The vendor fair at the country club will be from 1 – 5 p.m. The Chamber’s vendor fair will have the same hours as Saturday.
The train depot will be open from 12 – 3 p.m. and will have the Department 56 Christmas Village to view, he added.
Santa will be at the West Liberty Foods Market and live reindeer will be behind city hall from 3 – 5:30 p.m.
“The Chamber of Commerce will also have campfires where you can roast s’mores from 3 – 5:30 p.m.” Brooke said.
CarQuest and West Liberty Auto Parts donated the s’mores for those attending to enjoy, he added.
“So come on down,” Brooke said. “You can enjoy s’mores and get a photo taken with the reindeer.”