Holly Days | Photo by Emily Mancuso | The Wright State Guardian
From Wednesday, Dec. 6, to Friday, Dec. 8, thousands of Daytonians came to the Dayton Arcade, an over $100 million restoration project, for a holiday-themed week celebration, including dance performances, small business vendors, caroling and more.
The Arcade
Thousands of hours and millions of dollars were spent renovating the scene now called the ‘Dayton Arcade,’ comprising nine main buildings mostly built around 1902. The Arcade functioned as Dayton’s central marketplace until around 1980.
The current space includes the Innovation Hub by the University of Dayton, 110 apartments, two restaurants and an art gallery. Future additions will include a Hilton Garden Inn and marketplace retail space.
The Arcade provides the centralized community space that Dayton was missing.
“It’s such an opportunity for connection. We were missing that with COVID-19, and to allow local arts groups and entertainment and vendors, it's just a great event and we really like it,” Megan Dunn-Peters, the Arcade community director, said.
Over the three days, just over 8,000 people came to enjoy the Holly Days.
Holly Days
While the Arcade continues to grow and expand, this year's event comprised the rotunda area and the “Tank,” a planned event since the second Holly Days concluded last year.
And compared to the last Holly Days, Arcade restaurants like Gather by Ghostlight and Est! Est!! Est!!! were open for business.
When most think of the Arcade, they think of the beautiful Rotunda, the Arcade's signature high arching dome. Beneath its glittering glass was the main market space. 38 vendors and nine food trucks offered everything from cheesecake to homemade candles, just a small fraction of the Arcade’s master list of 300 vendors for events.
Flanked by Christmas trees and lights, to the side of all of these vendors was the performance space.
Performances in the Rotunda included Lyn Morton, the Miami Valley Dance Company, character meet-and-greets with Anna, Elsa and Olaf from “Frozen,” Anna Marie, Alyssa Hanson, the Gem City Ballet, Jimmy and Jack, Kyleen Downes, the South Dayton Dance Theater and a community carol with Jeff Powell, Lisa Hanson and Mark Hanson.
A quick run to the Rotunda’s side will result in a visit to “The Contemporary,” a connected art gallery space. During Holly Days, attendees could stop by and view “The Hold Belly,” a series of physical art installations by Shon Walters.
Until Jan. 14, visitors to The Contemporary can view Walters’ art pieces composed of unconventional materials, such as bird nests, ash, locust thorns and more.
The hallways and entrances of the Rotunda and down into The Tank had even more vendors selling items, such as photography prints, stickers, Ohio-themed Legos and more.
The Tank, the downstairs event space under the rotunda, could be accessed from the artistically graffitied subway-like entrance from the street or a quick trip downstairs from the rotunda.
Kelsey Haver, a graphic designer, lettering artist and small business owner of The Daisy Market Co., is one such vendor. Haver’s original artwork is used for stickers, tea towels, t-shirts, greeting cards and more.
“My brand is stationary, so a lot of paper goods and lifestyle accessories. Everything in my shop is designed by me, so it has some elements of original artwork,” Haver said.
Haver would love to join Holly Days again next year but also sells work online and frequently hosts local hand-lettering workshops as well.
Down the hallways from the vendors was the main Tank space, a sunken pit where performers, like the Gem City Chorus, Bach Society of Dayton and Forte, an acapella group based out of Centerville High School, performed.
Forte, a multiple award-winning a cappella group, performed classic holiday songs, such as “We Need a Little Christmas,” “Twelve Days of Christmas” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Occasionally, Forte would combine these songs into a modern parody with songs like “Africa” by TOTO. As Forte wraps up their concert season, they prepared their Holly Days performance in just a week.
“We get caught up to do a lot of local events if they just want performers for something, or we usually go to a cappella conventions, like last year we went to a national a cappella convention, and there are several other small pocket fests,” Centerville High School student Samuel Villalva said.
Other highlights of Holly Days were the community Legos built by Brixilated, family-friendly trivia and art supply donations for We Care Arts.
On Dec.7, attendees could take a free shuttle to the Sunset at the Market event at the 2nd Street Market.
The organizers and sponsors of this year's Holly Days were AES Ohio, Culture Works and Friends of the Arcade.
“I just hope that Daytonians have a renewed sense of pride in the community again. People are obviously very proud to be from Dayton, and having opportunities like this, especially to make these Christmas memories with their families, is really important,” Dunn-Peters said.
Holly Days 2024 will be on Dec. 11, 12 and 13.
