Lights went on trees, local businesses stayed open late and Santa himself made an appearance for the annual Holiday Magic celebration Friday evening atop Queen Anne hill.
The event covered nearly the entire business district, stretching from West Galer Street to the Eat Local store on West McGraw Street.
"It's an event to kick off the holidays, thank the community and encourage Queen Anne residents to shop locally this holiday shopping season," said Mary Chapman, director of marketing for the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce.
While the Chamber coordinated Holiday Magic, the merchants invested their own time and money in the event, Chapman said. Each local business brought something unique to the Queen Anne community. Laurie Swanson Massage offered free five-minute massages throughout the evening, for example, and Queen Anne Books held a book signing with author Kim O'Donnel ("The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook") and featured samples of her crostata recipes. Also on hand was artist Kevin Shaffstall for a reception. Shaffstall's paintings are in the store through January.
At 4 p.m., however, families headed over to HomeStreet Bank for one special reason: Santa had arrived. Children filled the lobby and gobbled holiday cookies provided by the bank as they waited to get a picture with Santa.
Branch manager Hossein Soleymani said he was always glad to see all of the families and friends come in for the holiday event.
"It's the philosophy of the company to be involved in the neighborhood that we work and live in," Soleymani said.
The John Hay Choir then took the stage at 5:30 p.m. in the Homestreet Bank lobby and performed several holiday classics before moving to the front lawn of Bethany Lutheran Church for the tree lighting ceremony.
Metropolitan Market employee Amy Pinkis, who was handing out hot cider and holiday samples from the store, said it had been a tradition for the grocery store to participate in the event.
In fact, Pinkis, who commutes to Queen Anne from Tacoma, said she had a personal attachment to the holiday tradition.
"Holiday Magic was my first shift six years ago and I fell in love with Queen Anne," she said.
Homegrown, an organic sandwich shop that came to Queen Anne only a month ago, decided to hold extra hours and give out free cocoa as a way to meet its new neighbors, assistant manager Chad Cotter said.
"We wanted to participate to introduce ourselves and get to know the community," Cotter said.
All of the organization was thanks to volunteers from the Chamber, Chapman said, who made the community event as bright and extensive as it was this year.[[In-content Ad]]
