Cookie Crawl combines community, cravings and Christmas
BY KADIE TAYLOR
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LAFAYETTE — Collect cookies in the community. LaFayette Main Street is hosting its third annual Cookie Crawl on Dec. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in downtown LaFayette.
“It’s so much fun, and we've had great feedback from this event,” said Executive Director for LaFayette Main Street DeAnna Hand. “I've had multiple grandmothers share with me how much they love this Cookie Crawl event. The idea really is just to bring some holiday cheer and have people walk in the streets — lingering around downtown so they can shop local and see one another. Some of the kids dress up, and they go around to our participating businesses and collect free cookies.”
Hand said the Cookie Crawl is a fun way for locals to start off their day before the LaFayette Christmas Parade — allowing people to crush cravings with their collected cookies while they enjoy the parade.
“This is a big day in LaFayette because that's the day of our city parade — we kind of kick things off that morning with our Cookie Crawl, they can pick up their Cookie Crawl boxes, which have been donated to us from Auburn Opelika Dental,” she said. “Each participant takes a Cookie Crawl box, and they go around to the different businesses that are open [to collect] their free cookies. They'll get a cookie stamp card initialed or stamped by the local business, and at the end of the day, they will turn it in and we'll do a drawing for some free downtown dollars.”
With cookies for every craving, Hand said each business supplies its own cookies through either baking their own or purchasing them.
“Each business creates, bakes or purchases their own cookies,” she said. “We have festive cookies, homemade cookies — and the small businesses or organizations provide those cookies to the participants.”
Andee Nelms, owner of the Blue Button, said she has seen the community gather to enjoy the Cookie Crawl, and she appreciates the impact that it has on the community.
“It’s really fun to see people come out, and you have families come with their kids — it's just a fun day,” she said. “You hear the kids come in and they're excited about Christmas — parents get to shop. You get to see kids get cookies, across the board — it is just a fun day. It's good for businesses, and it's good for just community involvement… Everyone comes in and wants to tell us the stories about what [LaFayette] was like when they were young. They're reintroducing their kids and grandkids to what the town was, and they're starting to see it come back. So you're having that remembering of old memories, but [also] creating new ones.”
Hand said, along with the impact of locals visiting small businesses, the Downtown Cookie Crawl is a fun family event for the holiday season. For more information, visit lafayettemainstreet.org.
“This is a family-centered event,” she said. “You may have a granddad come in with his grandkids to shop locally that wouldn't usually come out and about and shop. It introduces other people to these businesses [who are] hosting, and it's just a way to get people inside these businesses. Also, I think it's really cool that they get [to take] time to talk to the business owners. I really, really stress that face-to-face interaction and that personable, genuine connection that our small businesses have with our resident citizens and people passing through, because [through that locals are] able to see their passion and their spirit for their craft and their small business.”
