A Happy Who-liday
Downtown Enterprise has been transformed into Whoville for the holidays.
The decorations and window displays are inspired by the Dr. Seuss book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
The operation is headed by Stephanie Walden, a ninth grade honors history teacher for EHS and also co-owner of the clothing store, Style ASAP, and Regina Lacey, co-owner of the painting studio All About Art.
They started building the foundations of this project in February 2018, attempting to get all of the downtown businesses collaborating in order to make their dream a reality.
Walden formed this plan, keeping in mind the annual Downtown Enterprise Christmas Parade and the drive-through Christmas in the Woodlands hosted by the Trawick family that attract visitors from all around the Wiregrass area.
She also was inspired by Andalusia’s Candyland and Dothan’s Victorian decorations that the cities put up during winter.
She chose the Grinch’s story because it has “such a great message.”
Walden said, “the message itself is about community awareness, community togetherness, [which is] what the Christmas spirit really is.”
She told how the tale encompasses what she believes to be the true meaning of Christmas, in that “it doesn’t come from a store,” but from the heart.
Her idea has blossomed into a reality as Whoville plans to host a huge holiday celebration December 15.
During this event, people will be able to pop in and out of the local shops and partake in several games and contests; some participants will be dressed as characters from How the Grinch Stole Christmas to further immerse themselves in the Christmas spirit.
Over 30,000 people marked that they were interested in this event on Facebook.
Due to such high interest, many businesses have even specialized in a Whoville themed product, such as the ice cream shop Milky Moo’s serving a flavor called “The Grinch”.
Walden wants this project to shed light on how “cool” downtown is, striving for more tourists to come to visit the Hollywood Boulevard of Enterprise.
She hopes someday Whoville will not just be confined to the downtown area, but rather the whole town would join in.
She wishes that her project will grow larger, just as the Grinch’s heart did.