Annual Holiday Open House Is Next Week

Loretta George

3 weeks ago

The 21st Annual Fort Scott Holiday Open House Shopping Event in the historic downtown district and around town is next week.

The main kick-off event is Thursday, November 7 from 5-8 p.m. Some stores will remain open to 9 p.m.

The evening includes festive refreshments, drawings and deals on products, according to a Chamber of Commerce press release.

On Thursday evening the Kansas Museum Conference will end a meeting at 8:30 p.m. at the River Room and most of the stores will remain open to accommodate conference attendees, said Lindsay Madison, Chamber Executive Director.

There will be approximately 130 conference attendees in Fort Scott for that conference.

Most stores will continue to have Open House on Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9.

Drawings, discounts, and treats await, while shoppers find unique apparel, gifts and holiday décor.

The asterisk beside the participating store names below indicates they are staying open until 9 p.m.

110 South Main Mercantile*
Angie Dawn’s Boutique*
Barbed Wire & Roses Vintage Market*
Bartelsmeyer Jewelry*
Be the Light Boutique*
Bids & Dibs*
Hedgehog.Ink!*
Iron Star Antiques & Such*
Laree + Co*
Mayco Ace Hardware*
Museum of Creativity*
Sekan’s Occasion Shop*
Sunshine Boutique*
The Artificers*
The Kitchen Collective + Collaborative*
US Cellular*
Varia Quality Resale

History of the Event

The first holiday open house was in 2003 at the Iron Star Antiques and Such, 3 North Main.

Santa sits on a bench in front of The Ironstar and gets a second look from Ernestine Eden in 2017.

Barb Trimbur and Cindy Bowman were vendors in the Iron Star and they decided to host an open house after Trimbur had made an offer to purchase the store from Yvonne Beck and Beck accepted the offer. The deal was finalized in 2004.

“The purpose of the first holiday open house was to introduce myself as the new owner,” Trimbur said. “We were decorating the store and thought, wouldn’t it be nice to have a party to kick off the season.”

Trimbur said about 10 years ago other downtown stores decided to have an open house as well.

Madison said the last quarter of the year, the holiday season, is the busiest time of the year for businesses.