Merry Merrill Market offers late night downtown shopping

The first annual Merry Merrill Market will be held this Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, from 5-10 p.m. in downtown Merrill. It’s Merrill’s first annual late night shopping experience to provide the perfect opportunity for Merrill area residents to get all those last-minute gifts locally. Why drive further when you can get gifts for everyone on your list right here in Merrill, and maybe pick up a few sweet treats, enjoy a coffee or rich hot chocolate, and grab a brat or pulled pork sandwich or a soup and bread bowl for supper while you’re at it?
A selection of local stores are extending their hours this Saturday night until 10 p.m. including Merrill Ace Hardware, Ana Blair’s Boutique, and The Humble. Some other downtown stores are also extending their evening hours, though perhaps not quite as late.
Auntie Ray’s Coffee House is bringing in outside vendors—including Sczygelski Farm Products, Darlene’s Beautiful Batches, Rustic Roads Designs, Just Like This Creations, Starr Tumblers, Atlas Soap Company, Plain & Simple Boutique, Tails-A-Wagon, and Big Blue Design—from 5-9 p.m. so customers can shop while they sip their peppermint latte or whatever their favorite drink might be.
Ana Blair’s Boutique will also have some other vendors in the store. “I will have coffee specials, free cocoa and cookies, 30% off storewide from 5-10 p.m., some other local small business pop-ups will be in store, and Wags of Wisconsin will be here with puppies in the window to raise money and hopefully get some adoptions!” said store owner Ashley Dayton. The Grinch will also be in the store for photo opps, she said. With lots of options for the ladies, from accessories to entire outfits, customers could find that something special for a sister or friend, wife or daughter, just in time for Christmas.
Participating downtown stores are making it all fun and festive, with sales/specials, giveaways/drawings for prizes, and holiday events.
Bill Babiash at Merrill Ace Hardware said they’re trying to create a Christmas-party type atmosphere in downtown Merrill. While you’re browsing for tools, grills, holiday decor, socks, and other unexpected finds, you can also participate in their white elephant gift exchange. Just bring a wrapped white elephant gift valued at a minimum of $5 to the store, place it under their white elephant Christmas tree, and pick a wrapped gift to keep for yourself in exchange. What fun! Who knows what you’ll get! Ace will start the fun off with their own pile of wrapped white elephant gifts and participating customers could end up with something with a much higher value. They will have giveaway drawings, too.
No need to stop home after working all day before heading downtown shopping either. Merget’s Mouthwatering Mayhem will have their food truck parked on the street right outside Ace Hardware, so residents can grab a bite to eat when hunger strikes, and support a great cause at the same time. Art is a great supporter of local nonprofits and is always giving back to the community with the profits from his food truck. “We like to say we’re cooking for a cause,” Art said. “I’ll be donating that day to Lincoln County Humane Society, cooking from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.” His menu that day will include footlong garlic beer brats, pulled pork sandwiches, fresh cut fries, jacked up Oreos, and rich heavy cream hot chocolate.
While shopping down on E. Main Street, customers can pick up some traditional Sweet-Shoppe fudge—now available at The Humble in the building that used to house the Sweet Shoppe—for a gift for a mother-in-law, co-worker, or a neighbor [or themselves] and take a look at their apparel and home decor to express faith-filled sentiments, available in the same location.
They can also stop by The Polka-Dotted Pie to pick up a selection of delicious baked cookies, bars, or other goodies so they don’t have to heat up their own oven or stay up all night baking and decorating in these final days for Christmas. “Polka-Dotted Pie will be open 7 a.m.-9 p.m.,” said Polka-Dotted Pie co-owner Jen Schlaefer. “We will be fully stocked with cookies, bars, candies, fudge, etc. We will be able to put platters together for you or you can buy a la carte.”
“We will have last minute gifts, stocking stuffers, and gift certificates available,” she said. They are also doing a giveawy drawing for three shop gift certificates. Polka-Dotted Pie will have a pot roast dinner (pot roast, potatoes, carrots, with a dinner roll) that day and chicken & wild rice and broccoli cheese soup bread bowls from 4 p.m. until they sell out, Schlaefer said.

From idea to fruition

The Merry Merrill Market is the first of what downtown business owners see as an annual event that is destined to grow.
“The Merry Merrill Market came as an idea after talking with Jen and Wendy at The Polka Dotted Pie some weeks ago about how we miss events like Crazy Days,” said Johanna Doyle, owner of The Humble. “They mentioned dreaming of a late-night shopping opportunity similar to Crazy Days.”
“This reminded me of how a town my husband and I are originally from had what they called Midnight Madness held the last Saturday before Christmas every year,” Doyle said. “All the stores would stay open until midnight and attract people from that community and surrounding communities to come shop and celebrate the holiday with different festive activities. And so that got us thinking. We could totally do this in Merrill! Thus, the Merry Merrill Market was born.”
“Main Street is so beautiful, especially during the holiday season,” Schlaefer said. “I have always thought a winter festival downtown to showcase all of Merrill’s small businesses would be neat.”
“We were brainstorming a much larger event,” she said, “but quickly realized we wouldn’t have enough time to pull it off. So a night of later hours to accommodate the hustle and bustle is what we came up with. We had to reorganize our staff a bit to make it happen. But we have it all figured out now, and we couldn’t be more excited!”
“This is an event we hope to continue with annually that will bring our community together and open it up to surrounding communities as well,” Doyle said. “As people come into ... The Humble, what I hear a lot is that they miss the days when life was more simple. And how people used to come together and enjoy each other’s company, when not so hurried.”
“We hope that Merry Merrill Market will be a fun experience for all who come out, take the time to greet fellow shoppers, enjoy refreshments, and be intentional to appreciate the reason for the season,” she said. “Along with a sense of community, shoppers can expect a gift basket raffle giveaway, great sales, and refreshments while they shop. Of course, we always have free fudge samples as well!”
“The Merry Merrill Market so far has brought a few of us small businesses together in support of one another, and that is a wonderful feeling,” Doyle said. “We feel Merrill has a lot to offer, and this is a great way to show not only our connectedness as business owners, and our heart for each business to thrive, but we want to bring something to Merrill residents that they can be a part of as well.”
“I was approached by Johanna from The Humble!” Dayton said. “I love being involved in any and all community events that bring local businesses together and unite us!”
“I love interacting with customers and doing extra fun things around the holidays that get people out and visiting their local small businesses and supporting them,” she said.
Doyle agreed. “The purpose behind our store is to bring something new and fresh to Merrill, to offer a family-friendly place to shop, one that brings a positive and uplifting experience to our community,” she said. “Funny how many times I hear in a day ‘It feels really good in here, it’s so peaceful, I just don’t want to leave’ and others say ‘Merrill really needed a store like this, I’m so glad you are here!’”
“We moved to Merrill in 2007 from a bigger city and absolutely fell in love with this community,” Doyle said. “It brings us such joy to give back in this way. We love Merrill as if we have lived here all our lives; we are thankful for so many things in our community.”
“Contributing to the growth of the city, to being a part of something bigger than us, and to get people out together just feels like the right thing to do,” she said.