There is something about Christmas in Minden.
I know, I know. Every community has Christmas lights. There are parades everywhere. Cities put up trees, businesses decorate their storefronts, Santa makes appearances and somebody somewhere starts talking about creating that “Hallmark Christmas Movie” feeling.
But Minden is different.
Maybe I am biased. I have spent most of my life connected to this community, so I will readily admit that possibility. But I have also traveled enough and lived enough places to know when something is genuinely special.
Christmas in Minden is special.
Just look at what is planned this year.
The season officially kicks off Nov. 20, and from there it seems like something is happening almost constantly through New Year’s Day. The Rink brings ice skating downtown. Presents on Pearl offers holiday shopping and local vendors. There are carriage rides, hayrides, a holiday tour of homes, Santa visits, a Christmas parade, a live nativity, the Wine Walk and Christmas Eve activities.
You can shop downtown, eat downtown, ride through downtown and simply walk around and take in the lights.
Even Hollis Tree Farm becomes part of the experience.
Any one of those things could happen in another community. Many of them do.
So what makes Minden different?
I think it is the buy-in.
Christmas in Minden does not feel like something a committee dreamed up and then asked everyone else to attend. It feels like something the community participates in together.
Businesses decorate. Organizations host events. Volunteers give their time. Families establish traditions around certain nights and activities. People who have moved away come back home. Children experience some of the same Christmas magic their parents and grandparents remember.
And somewhere in the middle of all of that, downtown Minden becomes more than a collection of buildings and streets.
It becomes a gathering place.
We spend a lot of time talking about economic development, downtown revitalization and finding ways to bring people into our communities. Those are important conversations. But sometimes community development is much simpler than a strategic plan.
Sometimes it is giving people a reason to come together.
Christmas in Minden does that exceptionally well.
Yes, the lights are beautiful. The events are fun. The businesses benefit from additional traffic, and I hope everyone who comes downtown makes a point to spend some money with our local merchants.
But the real value is bigger than any single event or sales receipt.
For a few weeks each year, Minden reminds us what a community can feel like when everybody pulls in the same direction.
There is a sense of pride. There is familiarity. There are people greeting one another on the sidewalk, children looking at Christmas lights and families creating memories that will outlast whatever gifts happen to be under the tree this year.
Maybe that is our version of the Hallmark movie.
Except ours is real.
It is made possible by people who decorate, organize, volunteer, sponsor, open their businesses, welcome visitors and keep finding ways to make the season a little more special than it was the year before.
Christmas may happen everywhere.
But Christmas in Minden just feels different.
And I think that says something pretty special about Minden itself.
David Specht is president of Specht Newspapers, Inc., publisher of the Minden Press-Herald, Bossier Press-Tribune, and BIZ Magazine.