JoeTown set to Rock in the Cold with WinterWalk Festival

(KNSI) – The JoeTown WinterWalk Festival will have about 4,000 people piling onto Minnesota Street during Friday night’s four-hour event.

There are dozens of businesses participating and, of course, the tree lighting ceremony. Organizer Marshall Herron says his favorite part of the night is the carolers.

“We also will have the St John’s Prep Chamber Choir coming through and singing at various venues throughout the evening. That’s kind of a highlight, fun thing to bring them in, line them up. There’ll be maybe 20 of them, and then they start singing in the restaurant.”

There will be six venues with live music, including Bad Habit Brewing, Krewe, Jupiter Moon Ice Cream, the Church of St. Joseph Heritage Hall, and Obbink Distilling. The carolers will try to hit all of them.

Some other main attractions include the luminary walk throughout downtown St. Joseph, a touch-a-truck event in the city parking lot, and a visit with Santa on the patio at Bello Cucina.

Herron works on a five-person board with co-director Raj Chaphalkar, who believes a small-town atmosphere creates a special environment for the festival.

“There is something about seeing folks that you know and seeing other folks, who maybe you’ve seen but you don’t know, and you bump into them at WinterWalk and you say, ‘Hey, here’s my name. How are you?’ And you reconnect over the shared love of St. Joe.”

He notes some activities this year were based on input from businesses to the WinterWalk board, not the other way around, which he cites as proof of everyone pulling together. Puppy petting came about because the owner of Sisters and Co Consignment Boutique has a husband who is a dog breeder. A litter just happened to coincide with the festival.

Everything starts at 4:00. A full list of activities is available here.

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