Medina readies square for Candlelight Walk

MEDINA — Dozens of volunteers braved the cold, wind and rain Sunday to give Medina Square its annual holiday season makeover. The annual decorating extravaganza, which is sponsored by Main Street Medina and done in preparation for the city's yearly candlelight walk, included a large tree in the square's gazebo, garland adorning the outside of the gazebo and wreaths and flags that say "Joy" on the light posts in and around the square. Main Street Medina Executive Director Matt Wiederhold said he was pleasantly surprised over 80 volunteers came out to help with the decorating. "It's going great," Wiederhold said. "Based on the forecast, I didn't think we'd get anything done and I'm very happy with where we are. Hopefully, the majority of the decoration will be done today. Whatever is not, the staff will fix it the rest of this week. Everything will be ready by Friday and then we'll turn it on that afternoon." This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 36th annual Candlelight Walk will look a little different, but Weiderhold said the show must go on and Main Street Medina has made appropriate adjustments to ensure that it does. Rather than the traditional three days of shopping and events, the festivities will be spread over eight weeks so people can visit Medina and do their holiday shopping at their own discretion and level of comfort. "We have our candlelight walk, which is next weekend," Weiderhold said. "Then we're continuing holiday-themed events and shopping through Jan. 10. We're marketing and promoting Medina as a holiday destination. We are in a pandemic and people need to be careful, but we figured that doing it over eight weeks instead of three days, people can come down when they're comfortable (and) convenient for them and still enjoy that we have in town." Amanda Hudak, owner of All Fired Up, 233 S. Court St., has helped with the decorations in previous years and said, having a business in the square, she felt compelled to make sure this year was extra festive. "Having everything look beautiful and working together in the community is very important to me," Hudak said. "There is a lot more put into decorations this year (and) a lot of new decorations." Along with the square, decorations are also being put upon along South Court Street with the "Joy" flag already up on the light posts down the street and the bridges getting decorated as well. Hudak on Sunday was one of about 10 people working to decorate the Christmas tree and was blown away at the amount of student support. "I think it's a really great turnout," she said. "There are a lot of student volunteers as well which is always nice. That's a wonderful thing." Hudak said she hopes those passing by and those coming to town to shop and see the decorations are filled with a needed dose of holiday cheer. "I think it absolutely will bring joy to a lot of people when things are kind of tough right now," Hudak said. "Our goal is to make a lot of picturesque moments so people can come out and get holiday pictures and things like that." Contact reporter Jack Kopanski at (330) 721-4063 or jkopanski@medina-gazette.com.