Charles City celebrates Christmas in July with sales and car show

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

It was a very early start for the holiday shopping season this weekend as Charles City’s Main Street celebrated Christmas in July on Saturday, July 15.

“It’s been great,” said Rustic Corner owner Tami Vetter. “We’ve had people come from as far away as Decorah, Garner and Forest City.”

Vetter originally spearheaded the event to showcase the selection of Hallmark ornaments at the Rustic Corner and has since gotten others to join in as a way to generate some excitement for downtown shopping.

“It’s really not about sales,” said Vetter. “It’s about being open and having people out and about.”

From trivia at Prologue to BBQ sauce tasting at Charles City Electronics to stocking stuffing deals at Cardigan, the participating businesses each had their own way of getting into the summer holiday spirit.

“We’ve had a lot of foot traffic,” said Ashley Fagerland, a stylist at Cardigan. “It’s nice to see that they’re shopping downtown.”

The Charles City Arts Center even got involved, offering refreshments for visitors and a chance to win a painting in a drawing.

“It’s been pretty good,” said Assistant Director Karl Haglund. “We’ve had more people than usual for a Saturday.”

Working in tandem with the merchants to get into the early holiday season, the Charles City Rotary arranged nearly 100 cars for display down Main Street for the club’s annual Santa’s Shine & Show.

Made up mostly of local entries, the car show gives area residents a chance to show off their prized rides to the community.

“There’s a lot of nice cars in Charles City,” said Rotary member Chris Garden.

Club member Dennis Donovan said there were about 100 cars entered in the event, with slightly fewer vehicles than last year but about the same number of people registering. Area businesses, organizations and individuals donated cash and merchandise that was given to car show entries as a bonus for registering, or for prizes in a wide variety of vehicle categories.

With food trucks, farmers markets and Santa Claus around to give away presents, the combination of events makes for a mutually beneficial arrangement, drawing in different crowds to try everything out.

Garden said, “We want to give Charles City something to do to come out and have some fun.”