Saline Main Street Hosted the Fourth Annual Cocoa Crawl

Visitors flocked to Saline’s downtown for the fourth annual Cocoa Crawl on Saturday. This popular event, which is sponsored by Saline Main Street, featured seventeen businesses for shoppers to visit as they received stamps on their cocoa crawl passports. Participants could turn in their completed passports for a chance to win the grand prize drawing, a gift basket featuring over $1200 worth of donated products and gift cards.

“We have had non-stop traffic since we opened at noon, and expect a lot of people all through 6PM tonight. We printed 500 passports, and I’ve already had businesses contact me to bring them more,” said Joanne Dence, co-owner of Whitepine Studios. Dence was one of the organizers of this event, along with her daughter Kaili Dence and Celia Fellin of Yogacentric.

“We have all sorts of vendors here with original artwork, and they are selling items for the Christmas holidays,” she said.

Shops served a variety of options, which included cups of hot cocoa, cocoa packets, chocolates, cookies and more.

At Carrigan Cafe, owner Karen Carrigan passed out chocolates and encouraged diners to order their favorite beverages. She used this opportunity to highlight upcoming events at the café.

“We’re still doing our Thursday nights in December and Friday nights from 6 to 8:30PM. Banjo Mike is coming this Thursday, and Will Van Kampen will be here. He plays jazz and rock and roll. His daughter makes cookies and donates all the proceeds .And we’re going to do our cookie decorating on Thursday the 19th from 3 PM to 6PM.”

Brecon Grille opened their doors early for the event. They offered hot chocolate to anyone who entered with their passports.

“Last year, we weren’t open until 4PM for the Cocoa Crawl. This year we decided to open up earlier, and it’s definitely been beneficial for us,” said Paul Geragosian, owner.

He noted that business would be steady throughout the day, as visitors would stop by for the parade also.

“We’ll get the after parade crowd as well because this is a social district now. We will be able to sell adult beverages to go, like hot toddies, cocktails, whatever you like,” he said.

At the Cultural 109 Exchange, the Saline District Library had several stations for visitors to make holiday crafts and ornaments.

Photographer Heidi McClelland offered hot cocoa and chocolates in her studio, along with special discounts for photo sessions.

“I have space available between Christmas and New Year’s for people who have family together and want to book a session,” she said.

Phoenix Custom Framing and Gallery participated for the first time this year, and owner Matthew Findling said that he was impressed with the traffic that the event brought to downtown.

“It’s been fantastic. Non stop traffic, and great participation so far,” he said.

He noted that shoppers who were hoping to place a custom framing order for holiday gift giving should stop in soon.

“If you have any Christmas orders, get them in soon. Cutoff will probably be Friday the 13th.”

Missy Carlson and her team at Cornerstone Realty welcomed guests with a full hot cocoa bar and homemade cookies and treats made by area realtors.

“We love being downtown, being a part of the community and being involved. In our real estate brokerage, a lot of us are from the area. Having the family, the kids, the people come in has been great,” she said.

The Cocoa Crawl was followed by the Merry Mile and the annual holiday parade, giving visitors a chance to participate in all of the festivities throughout the day.

“The event brought us to Saline,” said first time visitor Sue Lerner, who participated in the cocoa crawl with her husband. “We moved to Ann Arbor from Connecticut about a year ago, so we’re slowly checking out the area. I thought the event was fabulous. A cute downtown, and it let us know the merchants available in Saline. It’s wonderful.”

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