Downtown merchants, live mannequins, and dazzling displays mark the start of Paso’s Christmas Story
PASO ROBLES — The merchants of Downtown Paso Robles kicked off the holiday season with Elegant Evening on Saturday, Nov. 16. Created by Paso Robles Main Street Association Executive Director Norma Moye, this cherished tradition marks the beginning of Paso’s Christmas Story celebrations.
Elegant Evening invites downtown merchants to stay open late, welcoming shoppers and setting the stage for the festive season. Many stores offered food and wine pairings to enhance the shopping experience, while elaborate holiday decorations added charm and cheer to the stroll-worthy streets.
Photos by Camille DeVaul/PRP
Part of the tradition of Elegant Evening is the live mannequin displays in partnership with the North County Dance & Performing Arts Foundation. Sitting still like mannequins in downtown store windows were beautiful ballerinas posed in costume, which drew a lot of attention on Saturday night. Families paused to take photos of and with the ballerinas, marveling and sometimes shocked when they realized they were, in fact, alive.
Kario Adams, Kaliska Morales, and Neelan Adams stroll the sidewalks around the merchants to promote “The Nutcracker.” All three wore handmade costumes that they wore in the production.
Kario will be playing the maid in the family scene, and this is her fifth year performing in the Nutcracker. Kaliska in her second year participating in the Nutcracker will be a rat in the battle scene and will portray a Russian.
“I like looking at the dancers in the windows, and when they recognize you, they smile even brighter,” Kaliska tells Paso Robles Press about why she loves coming to Elegant Evening.
Neelan, who just recently turned 18 years old, will be playing an aunt in the family scene for her eighth year performing in The Nutcracker.
“It’s the first time I got to do Elegant Evening, but it’s really fun to be able to walk around and just talk to everybody and tell them about it,” added Neelan.
On the corner of Pine Street and 13th, Artistry in Motion dancers gave their performances throughout the night with a full crowd in attendance.
Elegant Evening also encourages guests to dress “elegantly” as they stroll around the stores downtown.
Just Baked on 12th Street has a busy night handing out cookies and hot chocolate at their elaborately decorated bakery. Walking into the shop feels like what someone could imagine the inside of a gingerbread house would look like. On Saturday night, they were home to ballerina Ava White, who will be performing as a snowflake in The Nutcracker production.
Just Baked owner Libby Ryan, told us of their Elegant Evening experience, “We are so happy to have found our perfect home downtown. Elegant Evening was another amazing community event that we are so excited to have been a part of. We just love this kick-off to the holidays.”
Each year, for Elegant Evening, boutiques like Firefly create beautiful displays for the season. One can always expect Firefly to have unique, twinkling, and beautiful displays.
“Our goal every year is honestly just to make an environment where people feel a sense of magic and fantasy,” Firefly co-owner Emily Miller told Paso Robles Press. “Because, for me, that’s kind of what the holidays are about. We want people ideally to feel like a little kid again.”
She added, “The display in the store was just kind of inspired by whatever feels magical to me in that moment. This year, I was just thinking about stars and silver and made a little forest, and here we are.”
Photos by Camille DeVaul/PRP
Miller explains her displays tend to be out of the box for a typical Christmas display, but they always express a magical aesthetic.
As for the night of Elegant Evening, she says, “There’s a lot of people, and that’s amazing. It’s always fun to meet everybody from the community. It’s the start of the holiday season.”
The next Paso Robles Main Street Association event will be the annual Downtown Lighting Ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 29. For more information on Main Street Association events, visit pasoroblesdowntown.org
The 28th Annual Nutcracker performance will be at the Spanos Theater at Cal Poly this Dec. 6 through 8, featuring various performance times. You can learn more about the production and tickets at classactdance.com/services-7
Feature Image: From left: Just Baked staff Mya Hunnam, Emily Cockrum, Nutcracker Snowflake Ava White, Sydney Bruszer, Just Baked Owner Libby Ryan and Kaitlyn Rodriguez. Photo by Camille DeVaul/PRP
