November Spotlight: 8th Annual Winterfest
For the month of November, the Wabasso EDA and Redwood Area Development Corporation are highlighting the group behind promoting the businesses and the community in the city of Wabasso.
The Wabasso Area Commercial Club is gearing up for their 8th annual Winterfest on December 2nd! Be sure to watch for a flyer in your mailbox to see all of the businesses participating in the event and all of the activities they have planned—you’re not going to want to miss this year’s activities! The Commercial Club’s main focus is on promoting activities for the general welfare of the city. They provide networking opportunities, promote economic development, offer small business services, and maintain positive collaborations with local agencies. This group always has the welfare of Wabasso at heart. Many people have contributed to its success over the years helping make Wabasso a quality community for all.
Their main events throughout the year are the Reverse Raffle and Winterfest. Watch for details on the Reverse Raffle around January and February. The idea of Winterfest came from some of Wabasso’s own community members. A few business leaders in the area thought it would be a great idea to do all of their open houses on the same day to make a celebration of it. After the idea came to light, Mary Franta had brought up the idea of a winter parade. The Commercial Club’s original planning committee which included Tiffany Eichten, Tina Eis, Amber Beadell, Cindy McKittrick, and Mary Franta, decided to create an event that would bring people from inside and outside of the community together to celebrate the towns businesses and the holidays in general! When I asked Tiffany Eichten, a member of the planning committee how the first year went she replied, “Our first Winterfest went over extremely well so we knew we wanted to make it an annual event! We saw it as a great way to showcase and support local businesses and bring people in to the community to celebrate them.” Eichten encourages people to reach out to a member of the Commercial Club if they are looking for ways to help out or partake in any of this year’s activities.
This year Winterfest will have more events than ever! There are lots of activities planned for families with children so be sure to bring them along! Activities include meeting Santa, going on horse and buggy rides, view a Christmas movie at the library, and participate in the business bingo at all of the open houses for a chance to win some Wabasso bucks! There will be a parade with over 20+ Christmas inspired floats to show off the local businesses and afterwards there will be fireworks set off that are sponsored by Jonti-Craft this year. If you feel like sticking around even later, make sure you head over to the Community Center where there will be live music from HickTown Mafia until midnight! The Lions Club bar will also be open during the concert. As always, there will be plenty of food provided throughout the night by various businesses or groups along with warm drinks to keep comfortable in the outdoors. Be sure to attend and check out all of the other interesting activities that will be happening downtown in addition to the ones already mentioned.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Commercial Club to help promote your business, feel free to reach out to Tiffany Eichten or Nathan Jacobson or attend one of the meetings that are held every second Tuesday of the month at noon at the Roadhouse Bar and Grill. If you’d like to help organize or host an event during Winterfest, again, please reach out to Tiffany Eichten or any other planning committee member to point you in the right direction. The Commercial Club and the City of Wabasso looks forward to seeing you and your families on December 2, 2022 and hopes you will enjoy Winterfest as much as others have!