MEDINA, Ohio — Thanksgiving may be next week but it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Medina.
This weekend, the city kicked off the holiday season with their 38th annual Candlelight Walk.
While the weather outside may be frightful, it didn’t stop hundreds of people Friday night from celebrating tradition.
“I wanted to bring my daughter to her first Candlelight Walk,” said Samantha Laliberte, a Medina native. “We’ve been doing this since I was a kid and I wanted it to be a tradition here, too.”
For decades, the Candlelight Walk in Medina has been a way for the community to come together for the holidays. The historic Medina Square is lined with luminarias and people gather to turn on the holiday lights.
It’s also an early present for all the store and restaurant owners that line the square.
“We are a gift boutique and we focus on artisan, local and nationwide. USA-made is our main focus,” said Kristin Hadari.
Hadari is the owner of Reverie. She opened the shop at the Candlelight Walk last year. She’s thankful for weekends like the Candlelight Walk that bring crowds to the square.
“We are all about exposure,” she said. “We are really just hoping to get people in the door, to learn about our business and what we are doing here.”
But admitted it doesn’t take much to get people to Medina these days.
“I think the square has become a destination for surrounding areas,” she noted. “It is a community that wants to support each other, wants to keep it local, shop local. I think people are pushing more for staying close to home and doing your eating, your shopping all in one place. The square has kind of become that location.”
Stacey Sutphen has owned Lucky Dog Bakery for 13 years. She echoed Hadari’s sentiment.
“It’s a good place to have a business,” she said. “We’ve expanded three times.”
She’s seen the growth over the years.
“We get a lot of people from out of town. They come once or twice a year and they tell me I’m their first stop and I love that. It warms my heart,” she said.
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