Jingle Eve

Jingle Eve is a great way to kick off your hoilday season without being trampled in some big box store. I find it an enjoyable night to get into the spirit in a neighborhood where ALL of the shop owners and businesses are looking to put you in the spirit. Not just the ones who can profit from it. It truly is a community event that seeks to build… community!
The Wine Walk for only $ 10 advance/​$ 15 walk up was a great way to get out and see the street and explore places you may not other wise walk into. Along the way, I’d discover several stores with «bonus» rounds for the public such at the deli with Fireball Cider, the Ice Cream shop with Chili and the retro store with Sangria. I will be revisiting a few of them for gifts/​lunch in the near future!
I’m not sure what the story with the boat parade was. I went down to the lake about 5 minutes after the scheduled start time and saw three boats in the distance with lights, and no signs of additional… not sure if I missed it or if that was it. Which is fine… its a start!
Fringe ran Santa’s village complete with free Santa Pics, and Fringe touches is guaranteed to be fun! There were families with little elves everywhere in the bouncehouse, doing some crafty things, and otherwise just having fun.
By the time I got there the beer garden was wrapping up… but it seemed like it was bustling all night and was a place a sadly missed out on (will not make that mistake next year)!
There were food trucks, but they were fairly scattered and it was difficult to really «Shop» them to decide what to eat, because unlike most rally’s going between more than a cluster of 4 meant going 2 blocks up the road, so I just settled. Personally, for this event, I would have rather seen some of the local restaurants do some kind of sidewalk kiosk that they could fire out foods of their menu in a fast and pedestrian friendly fashion, so I could truly taste the neighborhood. Don’t get me wrong… LOVE me some food truck, but this event was about exploring the neighborhood.
An event like this is certainly no small undertaking especially by a neighborhood, but if I had to be critical of one thing, I’d say the communication of what there was to do and what time it happened would be it. I volunteered for one group helping out, and there just seemed to be a lot of guests who were very confused as to where & when things were happening. Even as someone helping at the event I had several questions, and I was referencing the website on my phone. Directional signage or sandwich board schedules may have gone a very long way, or info elves wrapped in lights.

I went to the 2012 Jingle Eve and it was a lot of fun. I don’t remember the cost of the ticket but it wasn’t much and we did the wine stroll. Needless to say, there was plenty of wine and a designated driver was identified. We walked to different businesses getting our wine glasses filled along the way. There were a number of artisans selling cool stuff as well. There were a ton of food trucks which offered wide variety and the boat parade was just fun. It was a great way to spend an evening, do some shopping, eat some good food, and most certainly enjoy the wine.