BUZZ MAGAZINE - Everyone knows that community is important. A community is a place made up of people just like you and me, and it’s up to us to take care of our own individual communities.
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A community is a place where people come together to celebrate, learn or just have fun. Community offers a sense of comfort, peace, safety and support, memories, and hopefully, unity. These are the ties that bind the business and people of a community together. These are the reasons that communities have things such as homecoming celebrations, parades and seasonal events. If a community lets these things meet their demise, everyone suffers.
Such a calamity threatened the small community of Litchfield not so long ago. For a time, community celebrations and events were juggled between dwindling organizations, such as the now disbanded Jaycees and the Rotary Club, until there was no one left willing to take charge and coordinate to continue events. That is, until a group of businesses owners and citizens decided to step forward, grab the bull by the horns and ensure that their community would not allow such events - events that were more important than most people realized - to be over and forgotten, and Litchfield Community Partners (LCP), a 501(c)3 nonprofit was formed.
“It helps that our board has members who love certain holidays and wanted to see them celebrated in town,” said Danell Fogle, president of LCP and owner of The Briar Rose in downtown Litchfield. “But as a business owner, I know that customers want to know that the companies they patronize actually care about more than just making a profit. Organizing and hosting community events is a way to show we are a company that cares about them as individuals as well.”
Currently, LCP has two major events each year that are both coming up soon. The first one is their Halloween event.
“Eventually, we want to be known as THE place to go for Halloween,” commented Sara Zumwalt, LCP Secretary/Treasurer. “And we have a pretty good jump on that. The community already does a lot for Halloween but our goal is to eventually have something big going on every weekend in October.”
The Briar Rose will kick off Halloween festivities this year with their annual Witches Night Out on Wednesday, October 23, 2024 until 7 p.m. with special sales, pop-up vendors and a night of fun. Customers are encouraged to dress in costume.
On Saturday, October 26, 2024 LCP will host a Halloween Block Party, Parade and Trick-or-Treating. There will be free games, prizes, bounce houses, photo ops, music and fun for the entire family. A sensory safe party will be held from 9-10 a.m. with the main Block Party from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. The Litchfield Public Library will bring childrens’ games downtown, complete with prizes. A pancake eating contest, hosted by Huddle House, will take place at 11 a.m. These events will all take place downtown in the 200 block of State Street, which will be closed to traffic for the festivities. Sweet P’s Shake Ups will be on hand, A&G’s Kookin Kitchen Food Truck will be selling delicious food, and the Christmas Basket Association, which provides Christmas meals to the needy in the community, will be selling their ribeyes and brats too, but LCP is keeping everything as free and fun as possible. Some of the freebies you can expect, while supplies last, are donuts and frozen treats (sponsored by EAD’S Treats and Robbin Hoffman & Hair 51), photo ops with a live unicorn (compliments of Massa Stables - bring your camera), bounce houses and touch-a-truck (tow trucks and fire trucks). The Westside Cinema will have a free movie at 11:30 a.m.
A Halloween Parade will follow the block party with lineup at 3 p.m. on South State Street at the old Sihler Elementary School and the parade will kick off at 4 p.m. Entries will travel north on State to Kirkham Street and then west to the Litchfield Moose Lodge, where you can enjoy free hot dogs. There is no entry fee for the parade and cash prizes will be awarded to 1st-3rd place in nine categories: PreK-Kindergarten, 1st-2nd grade, 3-5 grade, middle school-high school, adult, wheels, pets, floats and groups. Though not sponsored by LCP, citywide trick-or-treating will take place after the parade until 9 p.m. and again on October 31 from 6-9 p.m.
“The community support for our LCP sponsored activities has been phenomenal,” reported Danell. “Everything is already currently sponsored by a business, group or family to allow us to be able to award cash prizes for parade entries and fun prizes for the street party games.”
LCP is also gearing up for Christmas festivities, including their annual Lighted Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 21, 2024. The parade starts at 6 p.m., following the same route as the Halloween parade. Briar Rose will offer free pony rides and a visit from Santa from 10 a.m. until noon. Santa will be at the Litchfield Community center from 1-3 p.m. and then travel to the Litchfield Moose Lodge, where he will be after the parade with free refreshments. Santa will also have regular visiting hours in the Santa House on Carnegie Square during the month of December.
“December 21 may seem a little late in the month to have a Christmas parade,” noted Laura Golden, LCP Vice President, “But it’s actually perfect...the last big hoorah just a few days before Christmas to really pump up the holiday spirit!”
Community events help to bring communities together. When people join in celebration or even just talk about common interests, it helps create bonds and foster a sense of belonging. When we take the time to get to know our neighbors and work together towards common goals, we can make our communities stronger and more resilient. Then, we can really reap the benefits of coming together as a community.
“We can’t let our community traditions be lost in the hustle and bustle of life,” concluded Danell. “We want people to create happy memories here, and smile! That IS tradition for Litchfield.”
To keep updated on LCP events, visit facebook.com/p/Litchfield-Community-Partners-LCP-Parades-Events-Specials. Questions can be sent to litchfieldcommunitypartners@gmail.com. Anyone interested in being involved in Litchfield Community Partners is welcome to attend their monthly meetings, held the first Tuesday each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Litchfield Public Library, located at 1205 S. State Street.
This story originally printed in the October 2024 issue of The Prairie Land Buzz Magazine http://www.thebuzzmonthly.com.
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