11-14-2026 9:26am

Holiday Market Draws Shoppers to Saline Main Street Businesses

Saline Main Street hosted their first Holiday Market on Thursday evening, inviting shoppers downtown for extended store hours, holiday specials and visits with Santa. Restaurants offered festive menu selections and holiday-themed beverages to customers who ventured out on the cold and drizzly evening.

“With a new event like this, we’re always a little bit concerned whether people will show up for it, and I’m really happy to say that people are showing up,” Mary Dettling, executive director of Saline Main Street said. “That makes me happy.”

The Holiday Market provides a segue into other upcoming downtown events.

“Cocoa Crawl is always the week after Small Business Saturday, so it’s hard to do two big promotions a week apart. That’s why we pulled it together here. This Saturday is the Saline Craft Show, so we wanted to get people ready for that but not impinge on that time.”

Dettling welcomed visitors to the Cultural 109, where they could visit tables and receive information on the Saline Farmers Market and The Davenport Curtiss Mansion. They could also learn more about Tag You’re It, a new magazine for kids that is written and illustrated by kids.

“We’re an interactive print magazine. Kids fill it out and they become published artists and writers,” says Anthony Deptula, chief editor. “We’re subscription based, and it’s good for kindergarteners all the way to eighth grade. It’s comic book, graphic novel based. We’re already in 33 states across the country.

Carrigan Cafe welcomed Santa, who waved to passersby from the front window and greeted cafe guests who came in for cocoas and coffees. Santa was joined by musician Cat Canyon, who strolled through many shops and restaurants throughout the evening to spread musical cheer.

Salt Springs Brewery partnered with La Petite Boulevard to offer diners a special raclette menu. The warm, melted cheese dishes paired with a unique beverage experience called beer poking.

Keith Cummings was on hand to greet guests to the patio, where warmers and twinkling lights kept the diners cozy on a cool evening.

“Our head brewmaster, Tyler, is currently manning our fire station,” he said.

“Beer poking is basically flash caramelization,” Tyler Roberts said. “We’re using beers that have a little more residual sugar left over, and with a high temp steel rod going into it flash caramelizes it. It’s the difference between white bread and toast. The same with a marshmallow versus a toasted marshmallow. You get a little warm foam on top, but the beer is still cold and you get a little more of that caramelized toffee flavor.”

Nathalie Catchings from La Petite Boulevard was manning the raclette station, warming the French cheese and gently scraping it onto plates of roasted potatoes and charcuterie.

“Racelette is a French dish. The name is both the cheese, the dish and the apparatus that you make it with. It comes from the French word “racler”, which is “to scrape”. You can imagine that shepherds used to make big wheels of this cheese. When it's winter and it's cold and there's snow everywhere, they would take the wheel, split it in half , put it in front of the hearth, and with the heat of the fire it would melt all the cheese. They would take a knife and scrape it onto potatoes, charcuterie like salami or prosciutto, a few French pickles, and that’s what would be their meal in the dead of winter when it is so cold and you need something to stick to your bones.

“This is a dish from where I’m from in the French Alps. The French will eat it all year round. I’ve personally eaten this in the summer in the Alps and it’s not a problem. It’s very popular.”

Other participating businesses included:

Code + Clay: Needoh and Advent calendars along with science kits and gifts from Michigan-based artisans.

The Cobblestone Rose: shoppers could sample sweet treats while browsing through Christmas displays of home decor, gift ideas and fashions for the holiday season.

The Fine Print Bookshop: Custom gift wrapping offered by KraftyKat Gift Wrap

Flip Tag Win TCG: Trading cards, card games, and onsite events.

“Everyone has been fantastic, and there’s been a lot of people out even though the weather hasn’t been great,” said Nicole Barnhard, owner of Miss Mercantile Marketplace. “Everyone’s in a really good festive mood and it's been a lot of fun.”