Have yourself a ‘Basaliday Holiday’ this December in Basalt

Basalt has several holiday events planned throughout December, including tree lightings and holiday markets.

Every year during the first two Fridays in December, two tree lighting events take place — one in Historic Downtown Basalt and one in Willits.

A traditional tree lighting will take place in Triangle Park on the Willits side of town from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Dec. 6. A block party and tree lighting will also take place in Historic Downtown Basalt from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 13. The block party will celebrate the substantial completion of Midland Avenue, said Basalt Planning Director Michelle Bonfils-Thibeault.

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“These will have all of our traditional favorite things, opportunities to take photos with Mr. and Mrs. Claus, s’mores stations, Aspen Mini Donuts, the Lions Club pancake wagon for hot chocolate, and those sorts of things,” she said.

Midland Avenue will be closed from Alpine Bank to Sotheby’s for the block party, which will include live music and the holiday market.

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“We’re also expanding some of the opportunities for some of the non-retail spaces to have holiday vendors in there, so you can imagine some of our newer businesses have lots of space for that,” Bonfils-Thibeault said.

As part of the weekend’s festivities, Basalt will host a holiday market at The Arts Campus at Willits from noon to 5 p.m. on Dec. 15.

The “Basaliday Holiday Market,” as Bonfils-Thibeault called it, will feature vendors from the town’s Sunday market. This year, the Sunday market had over 80 vendors that wished to come back in the winter and provide holiday gifts.

“I think that will be a fun opportunity to get people out and about, thinking about shopping for the holidays and just a neat, new thing to try for some of our vendors that are here in the summertime,” said Basalt Town Manager Ryan Mahoney.

Before these events, Doll-Up the Bollards will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Dec. 4, where community members can come together to knit pieces to decorate the town’s new bollards, or posts, along Midland Avenue. The event will be hosted at The Art Base and is meant to teach the fiber arts, like knitting, crocheting, and sewing.

Yarn, wool scraps, and knitting needles will be provided, but artists can bring their own materials.

“Bringing more art to Midland Avenue is one of the goals of the Midland Streetscape project,” Bonfils-Thibeault said in a news release. “We have the support of Basalt Public Arts Commission and are currently working on more longer-term plans to bring more creativity to Basalt. And sweater weather is here.”

She also said many communities in Europe, such as Britain and France, have embraced this tradition, “so we’re going to try it out here.”

The Basalt Chamber of Commerce is also hosting a store font decorating contest with prizes. Winners will be announced on Dec. 13. And the town will be starting the Basalty Tree Pageant on Dec. 1 at Basalt River Park, where Basaltines can create a team, decorate a tree, and compete for prizes based on a public vote. The competition will run until January.

During last week’s Basalt Town Council meeting, the Midland Avenue events were granted a special event activity permit. The closure of this road requires a special event activity permit, and the town council approved the permit unanimously.

“I love holiday markets, so this is so cool we’re doing this. I think it’s going to be exceedingly fun,” said Basalt Mayor David Knight.

Regan Mertz can be reached at 970-429-9153 or rmertz@aspentimes.com.