The Uptown Project in Francesville rang in the holidays with their annual outdoor holiday market on Saturday, Nov. 13.
The Uptown Project has attracted vendors and Christmas cheer to the downtown area for the third year. Each year improvements are made to the event and more activities are added. It becomes a community event with locals featured as the entertainment and about 20 vendors lining a block of Bill Street.
Lois Haring appreciates the festival because it's an event involving all ages.
“It brings the community together. It’s just a very good family event,” Haring said. “We are happy with our town.”
The entertainment included horse-drawn carriage rides, singing preschoolers, the West Central Band, and community carolers near the town gazebo adorned with garland and a fully decorated Christmas tree. The tree was lit as part of the market activities. The West Central Band also held a fundraiser selling pretzel rods during the event.
Morgan Federer became a member of the Uptown Project because she is proud of Francesville. She joined the group this year and enjoyed the activities with her family.
“It’s a magical, little small-town market like a Hallmark movie,” Federer said. “Francesville is a small town with a big heart, so we like expressing this in our events.”
The first year of the holiday market was held inside, but it grew to need more room. This was the first year the Uptown Project offered vendors the ability to register online. The merchandise of wooden ornaments and decorations, headbands and scrunchies, birdhouses, shirts, cards, and other sewn crafts displayed the vendors’ talents. Other sold items included coffee, honey, homemade BBQ sauce, hot chocolate bombs, beef jerky sticks, and pretzel rods. Those who were hungry could enjoy cotton candy, soups, oven-baked pizza, and blueberry marinated pork.
“There are a lot of local vendors, and the market is close to home, so it’s easy for them to set up,” Federer said. “I think that everyone was pretty excited about it.”
Not only has the number of vendors increased but so has the number of people attending the event, including Santa and an elf who took time from their busy schedules to take photos with Christmas wishers.
“I was nervous about the weather. It has been everything from sunshine to snowing to sleeting,” Federer said. “I wasn’t sure if that would scare people away, but so far I’m really pleased with the turnout.”
The Uptown Project members are already thinking about next year. The organization’s members are discussing increasing the number of paintings of holiday decor on the streets and increasing the number of fire pits.
The Uptown Project is one of the few organizations working to attract tourism and positively impact Pulaski County communities. Other organizations include the Pulaski County Community Development Commission and the Pulaski County Tribe. The mission of the Pulaski County Community Development Commission is to promote and improve the quality of economic development throughout Pulaski County. The Pulaski County Community Development Commission’s mission is to promote and enhance the quality of economic development throughout Pulaski County.
To learn more about the Pulaski County Community Development Commission, please visit http://development.pulaskionline.org/.
