Pandemic won’t stop Christmas from coming to downtown Olympia

As the 2020 holiday season begins, the annual parades are prohibited and Santa himself will be keeping a social distance, but the sidewalks of downtown Olympia are dressed in holiday style.

A pandemic-appropriate version of the Olympia Downtown Alliance’s Downtown for the Holidays starts Saturday, officially known as Small Business Saturday.

This year, in addition to a new version of the LoveOly Shop and Dine passport program introduced earlier this year, offering giveaways for shopping locally, the festivities will focus on the trimmings — lights, more than a mile of garland, decorated shop windows, Nutcracker selfie scenes and snow set to fall on weekends outside both The Washington Center for the Performing Arts and the State Theater.

“We’re really stepping up our decorating game this year,” said Todd Cuts, the alliance’s executive director. “There’s going to be a lot going on visually.”

There’ll be holiday tunes, too. Sharon Stearnes of Gig Harbor will play holiday tunes on the Washington Center’s organ from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There’ll be no audience inside, of course, but the music will be piped out into the street, and the seasonal soundtrack will repeat on subsequent weekends, thanks to the organ’s built-in playback feature.

Downtown for the Holidays is more important than ever this year, Cutts said, both because small businesses have been struggling for months and because the latest restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus have caused some confusion.

“Some of the downtown businesses are getting comments from walk-in customers who are surprised that the stores are open,” he told The Olympian.

“We’ve had a number of customers assume we are closed due to the recent COVID-19 restrictions,” agreed Jonathan Happ, the gallery director at Childhood’s End, which recently retrofitted its heating and air-conditioning system with a filter shown to be effective at inactivating the coronavirus.

The new restrictions did end indoor dining at restaurants, but that has prompted many eateries to increase options for takeout and outdoor dining as restaurateurs have refocused their menus and added heat lamps.

The latest restrictions, which were prompted by soaring infection rates, also closed movie theaters just before the Washington Center was to begin screening films — including Ballet Northwest’s new “Nutcracker” and a selection of holiday favorites — for physically distanced and masked audiences.

“It’s like every time we get up, we get knocked down again,” said Jill Barnes, the center’s executive director. “We’re rolling with it.”

The restrictions are scheduled to end on Dec. 14. If they aren’t extended, the center will screen “Nutcracker” Dec. 18-20 and begin showing a series of seasonal classics from “It’s a Wonderful Life” to “Frozen” on Dec. 21.

Meanwhile, both the center and the State Theater are opening their lobbies for Downtown for the Holidays, offering free gift-wrapping for items purchased at downtown businesses. A receipt is needed to qualify for the wrapping, available from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Dec. 13 at the center and through Dec. 20 at the State Theater.

“We’re doing what we can,” Barnes said. “Performing arts were the first thing to stop, and we’re going to be the last to come back online.”

Downtown for the Holidays

• What: The Olympia Downtown Alliance’s annual celebration of the winter holidays and peak shopping season is back with a focus on holiday decorations and the LoveOly Shop and Dine program, which offers swag to those who spend at least $10 at five participating businesses.
• When: Nov. 28-Dec. 31, with the shop and dine program ending Dec. 24
• Where: Downtown Olympia
• More information: http://downtownolympia.org, http://olytwinklefest.org

Holiday films at The Washington Center

• What: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts is planning to screen holiday classics, if restrictions on movie theaters end as scheduled on Dec. 14.
• Where: The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. S.E., Olympia
• Tickets: $4 per seat to cover the reservation fee, with most seats allocated in blocks of four to maximize capacity while maintaining distance between groups
• More information: 360-753-8586, http://washingtoncenter.org

The films

• “It’s a Wonderful Life,” 2 p.m. Dec. 21
• “Elf,” 7 p.m. Dec. 21
• “Home Alone,” 2 p.m. Dec. 22
• “Polar Express,” 2 p.m. Dec. 23
• “A Christmas Story,” 7 p.m. Dec. 23
• “Frozen,” 2 p.m. Dec. 26
• “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” 2 p.m. Dec. 27
• “The Greatest Showman,” 2 p.m. Jan. 2