BY LAUREN SATINK

On the evening of December 6, 2019 the city of Wadsworth had its annual Candlelight Walk. There were many festivities for people to enjoy like steamy hot chocolate, horse drawn carriages, and Nutcracker ballet dancers in storefront windows. 

The Candlelight Walk draws people to downtown Wadsworth in celebration of the holidays and is a great boost to downtown businesses.

“I loved how much it felt like a true community; everyone was supporting everyone else,” said Megan Moore, 11. 

The Wadsworth High School band, dressed in Santa hats and Christmas sweaters, kicked off the evening’s events by playing festive holiday tunes. Mayor Robin Laubaugh thanked all of the sponsors as well as all the people who transformed the downtown into a winter wonderland. She concluded by lighting the Christmas tree in the downtown square. 

Every year Northeast Ohio Dance participates in the Candlelight Walk to promote its production of the Nutcracker. This year the dancers, dressed in costume, posed in the storefront windows of Bicksler Electric. Little kids pointed out the dancers to their parents as they passed by the store. Northeast Ohio Dance had its studio open as well for people to stop by and watch the dancers as they rehearsed their parts for their upcoming performances on December 21 and 22 at OJ Work Auditorium.

“I enjoyed seeing all the people in the community and advertising the Nutcracker as well as getting into the Christmas spirit,” said Lily Chesbro, 9, a dancer at Northeast Ohio Dance. 

Various places such as Crossroads Community Church were handing out hot chocolate to keep people warm. The temperature outside was near freezing, so people readily went into the downtown shops to browse and warm up. Crossroads also had cookies for visitors to ice and decorate. 

To complete the evening the streets were lined with milk jug lanterns, lights decorated the trees and outlined the buildings, and horse drawn carriages carried people throughout the downtown.