“Coronavirus hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason...” After a long year of cancelled school, cancelled homecoming, cancelled Rotary Banquet, and cancelled Chili Feed; 2020 set its grinchy sights on the last major event of the Big Sandy event calendar. The 2020 Christmas Stroll, which is usually scheduled for the first week of December, has been cancelled. Marlys Myers who has been involved in organizing the Christmas stroll for longer than any of the other current organizers, explains that this is the first time she is aware of that the town’s Christmas celebration has been cancelled. For the past three years, the Christmas stroll has been organized by the Community Service and Improvement group (CSI). They took over the event’s organization from the Chamber. Marlys explains that meetings to plan the stroll typically start in September, which is when the theme is chosen and plans are made. “There’s so many things you need to get done before the beginning of November, because you have to be ready to roll with everything then.” The early planning stages made it necessary to decide early as to whether or not to hold the event at all. Marlys explained that this year, “We just felt like it was best not to do it because everything else was being cancelled, and we would’ve had to start in September. You don’t know what is going on in November or December. We certainly didn’t want to bring things in to the community. One of the things that goes on that first Saturday in December that we hook on with is the Chouteau County Country Christmas. There’s a map of the county and people go shopping in all the towns. The fire hall was always full of crafters and that’s lots of people in a small space.” Concerns over crowds coming from all over the county during the pandemic made the event too high risk. “You kinda toy with: ‘Is it gonna be over by then? What’s going to happen?’ But we had to decide because you have to get buttons printed. You have to get all that stuff done right away, so that you’re ready to go in November with the prizes and all that stuff.” There was discussion of ways to still hold some kind of raffle with prizes, but in the end, the entire event was cancelled.
Marlys went on to explain her experience of the Stroll. “When I moved here, it was 1990 and Jim Rettig was in charge of the Stroll then. I don’t know how many years before that he’d been doing it. He loved it! I don’t know how that man got so many lights on his building. He had speakers, and he’d play the Christmas music, but it was loud. Now you miss it. It was an amazing thing.”
Marlys explained that it didn’t really feel like Christmas without the Stroll. “It just feels off. You know there are certain things that happen at certain times of the year... like the Chili Feed and the Rotary Banquet. All those things. And they’re not happening. So, it just feels weird.” Even the Agri-Prairie Insurance office, where Marlys works, lacked its standard decorations. She explained that she normally begins decorating in November, with the Leg Lamp from “A Christmas Story” usually appearing in the window before Thanksgiving.
Looking to the future, Marlys explained that, “We really want to do it up next year, because we all miss doing it.” She points out that the CSI has worked hard to find new activities to add in years past and is looking for suggestions and volunteers for next December. “Lots of people say they enjoy the Christmas Stroll, and we hope it’s a tradition now, like the Chili Feed. Those things that you always go to. We are always trying to add more things to it. Like we added the Cocktail Throw down. We tried a chili contest. Last year was really fun when we decided to do a costume contest. It was our first one, so there was definitely some bugs that needed to be worked out. After the parade was over and people started coming into the hall, you just saw the best costumes. It was so fun.”
As 2020 draws to a close and Christmas is fast approaching, it may not feel as merry and full of cheer as years past, we should draw wisdom from Dr. Seuss’ closing words from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas: “Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we.” Big Sandy will miss the Christmas Stroll, but we can still enjoy Christmas because what makes the Stroll so special is the people in our town who we share it with. After all: “What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”
Merry Christmas Big Sandy, even without the Christmas Stroll, Christmas will come and be wonderful.
