The winter solstice, this year was on December 21, is the astronomical start of winter in the northern hemisphere, made distinct by being the darkest day of the year. Each business participating in the solstice event had fire pits in the street in front of their storefront, where people were encouraged to gather.
"We lose our sunshine quite quickly and so that is something with the fire. It is to bring light to our dark days," explained Naab. "We bring the light outside and it also draws people's attention to our businesses. Lets them know that we're open late. And what I've wanted to do with this event was to make it beneficial, not only for our businesses and to thank our customers, but to be able to make it beneficial to somebody in this community, which this year we decided to help the food shelf out."
Granite Falls Wood Works made the donation boxes that adorned participating businesses' counters, the cash contents benefiting the Neighbors United Resource Center Food Shelf, which Ray Martin runs. He was tending a much needed fire down the street that chilly December evening.
"Beth down at Stella and Poppy, she came to me and said, 'We're gonna have a food drive for you. Is that all right?' I said, 'Yeah, that's fine with me. Anytime I can get food, it's ... Because we feed quite a few people here in town,'" Martin said. "We feed right now about 100 families a month, and that's like 9,000 pounds of food that we give out."
Martin said that $179 was raised for the food shelf during the event and they collected about 140 food items.
Any business in town can partake in the freezing cold fun. There's no entry fee. Naab only has a few requests for participants: "All we ask is that you'll stay open til 8 p.m., have some fun and have bonfires."
Because 'tis the season to be freezing, so gather around the solstice community warmth.
