The Beauty and Joy of Small-Town Holiday Traditions

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many families and communities around the world had to forgo their holiday traditions. Gone were the parades marching through main street and visits to see Santa at the local mall. Even priests and religious leaders were forced to re-conceptualize nativity scenes as drive-through pageants, and annual holiday concerts were silenced for the first time in decades. 

So, in a post-pandemic world, what is to be done with the holiday traditions that were put on hold these past few years? Can they even be recovered? Or is this a chance to forge new traditions in our families and communities?

My hometown of Ashland, Ohio believes they can do both, and they’ve taken it upon themselves to both develop new holiday traditions and strengthen old ones that had been put on hold. With a population of not even 20,000, Ashland is a relatively small city roughly halfway between Columbus and Cleveland. Drive by it on the highway and you’ll notice stores like the Fin and Grandpa’s Cheesebarn. If you’re northbound, you’ll see the sign that proudly declares that Ashland is “The World Headquarters of Nice People.” Midwest charm at its best. 

Each Christmas season now begins with the annual Christmas parade, held just a few weeks ago. The parade itself has been a community staple for fifty years, but the past five years have seen fireworks and a Christmas tree lighting ceremony added to the occasion. Thousands of people (most coming as families) turned out for the event, which closed off both Claremont and Main Street to accommodate the over eighty organizations, churches, groups, businesses, and families who participated. 

And Ashland is already reaping the benefits of doubling down on these holiday traditions. The parade and tree lighting are so popular that the local Times-Gazette reported people were arriving hours before the parade started just to find good seats for the ninety-minute spectacle. Not only that, but year-to-year in-person attendance has grown. The incredibly well-produced Facebook livestream of the 2022 parade (another new addition) attracted 11,000 viewers alone. 

But what about this fifty-year-old tradition makes it so appealing to community members? Amelia Coffy, a lifelong resident of Ashland and mother of a two year-old son, said it best: the parade and all the holiday festivities give the city a way to connect to its past while ensuring its future. “The parade unifies the people of Ashland and brings them all together,” she told me. “It helps the people remember their past and pass down those special memories to their children.”

The continued traditions have improved the yuletide spirit of many Ashlanders. Thanks to support from several area families, the downtown area transforms every year into the Buckeye equivalent of Bedford Falls from It’s a Wonderful Life. Two sixteen-foot-tall toy soldiers greet people as they pass under lighted garland and wreaths strung across Main Street. There’s a large Christmas ornament display in the plaza and a life-sized nativity tucked next to the Christmas tree in Bicentennial Park. In the same park, children can send letters to Santa and they even have the chance to meet jolly ol’ Saint Nick himself a weekend each year. 

Most of these holiday decorations have been acquired in the past two years as a result of the city’s emphasis on creating new traditions to pass along to their children. 

And Ashland is not the only example of small towns doing big things during the holidays. We see a similar desire for tradition across America. Alexandria, Virginia hosts its annual Scottish Walk. Leavenworth, Washington becomes the Village of Lights. Midway, Utah presents the Interfaith Creche Exhibit, an amazing collection of nativities from around the world. Stockbridge, Massachusetts recreates Norman Rockwell’s famous painting of the sleepy town at Christmastime. Virginia City, Nevada hosts a “Grinch Made Me Do It” bar crawl for those revelers twenty-one years and older. 

Ashland’s holiday activities and events are simply one example of how to cultivate traditions at the local level. Their remarkable success and growth over the past five years reminds us just how important traditions are to our communities—even more so during a holiday season centered around gratitude and joy. We as humans yearn for a sense of community, for things that unite us with others in common purpose so that we can be part of something bigger than ourselves. As my fellow Ashlander Amelia says, “It brings people from all different walks of life together where they can forget about their differences for a while and enjoy the Christmas spirit.”

Small American cities and towns like Ashland remind us that in our post-pandemic world, holiday traditions are essential to reconnecting with those whom we were separated from for so long. They remind us of the strength that lies in community and the beauty of the holiday season.