It was Black Friday that drew throngs to big-box stores, but it’s a more traditional green event that attracted a crowd to a destination off the beaten path.
At Bainbridge Gardens, the day after Thanksgiving marked the seasonal opening of the workshop where customers have come for two decades to create their own holiday wreaths. Some folks bring their own greens from home, but the nursery provides three varieties of cedar plus other fresh-cut greenery for wreath-makers to select from.
And at Olalla Valley Vineyard and Winery — a South Kitsap locale far from the Black Friday frenzy — it was the first day of Christmas at the Winery.
While downtown associations in Bainbridge Island, Gig Harbor and other communities promote Christmas shopping at local merchants, homegrown businesses away from the Main Street bustle also try to entice holiday season customers.
Visitors can enjoy free wine tastings (with a donation for Peninsula Food Bank) in Olalla Valley’s stylish and cozy tasting room proprietors Joe and Konnie Serka built.
There are also precut Christmas trees and wreaths for sale, with proceeds donated to South Kitsap Helpline. The Serkas help the food banks in both Gig Harbor and Port Orchard since their winery is midway between the towns.
And of course, there’s the wine, made in the Croatian style Joe learned from his father, an emigrant who settled with other fishermen in Gig Harbor. Olalla Valley produces several vintages, and visitors who want a gift basket can choose from Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Viognier, Pinot Gris, Merlot and — if there’s some available after proper aging — a hearty red called Golubok made from grapes of Russian origin. Another specialty is fruit wines made with apples and berries grown on their land.
“Everything you drink here, we grow here,” says Joe Serka, the affable winemaker with a long ponytail as white as Santa’s beard.
This is the fourth year the couple, who both retired from telephone company jobs in 2006, has hosted Christmas at the Winery. They also have a dining room above the tasting room that can host catered events for up to 42 guests.
They’ve grown grapes and made wine to drink at home since the late 1980s, but the expansion to a small commercial enterprise began several years ago. Today, the Serkas have 3 acres planted with grapes and Ollala Valley Winery produces about 1,200 bottles a year.
They are open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday until Christmas, plus Dec. 27 through Jan. 2.
Chris Harui, longtime proprietor of Bainbridge Gardens, looks forward to the groups that come in during the holidays for the shared fun of making personalized wreaths.
“It’s a good tradition,” she says. “We get booked up the day after Thanksgiving.”
Visitors can reserve two-hour slots to use the nursery’s 16 crimping machines for free, and staff demonstrate how to use them. Wreath frames are sold in a variety of shapes besides the traditional round, and customers purchase greenery, bows, ribbons and an array of decorations a la carte.
The most popular greens are three types of cedar — incense, cone and Port Orford red — but they’ve had people come in with their own greens from home, Harui says.
“People used to bring in roadkill after a big storm,” when strong winds left downed branches on the ground. “They’d come with a big bough and say ‘here’s my greens.’”
For wreath-makers and other holiday shoppers, Bainbridge Gardens also has a large gift shop that’s filled with lavish decorative displays designed by Harui’s daughter, Donna, who helps her run the business. The New Rose Café also stays open through the holidays, offering lunch, baked goods and hot drinks.
Harui and her late husband moved their family business — originally a florist shop in Winslow — to its Miller Road location on the island’s west side in 1989. She says it’s a challenge to draw holiday shoppers to a non-downtown location, especially a nursery and garden center that people may not think of as a wintertime business.
“Some of my own friends don’t know we’re open during Christmas,” Harui says.
Valley Nursery in Poulsbo is likewise focused on staying on the radar of holiday shoppers. This is the fourth year the business will host one-hour holiday workshops for designing and making wreaths, cranberry centerpieces or a “kissing ball.” The workshops on Dec. 1 and 8 are limited to eight people and cost $35 per person, which includes all needed materials.
Kathy Lins, the shop manager and gift buyer at Valley Nursery, says their business strives to offer unique holiday ideas.
“We have to be different, that’s the whole goal,” she says.
Their business is one of the last places customers can buy pre-cut Christmas trees and get them flocked, which produces a snow-covered look. Valley Nursery also offers living trees, and Lins said they have some customers who’ve been buying one every year for long enough to have a grove of them planted at home.
One of their biggest holiday draws is a large open-air (but covered in case of rain) display of deluxe Christmas wreaths, and no two of the creations made on-site are decorated the same.
And of course, there are loads of traditional poinsettias on hand, which are still a perennial favorite even though supermarkets and other big chain stores sell them as well.
For shoppers with a rugged outdoorsman on their gift list, Valley Nursery carries Grundéns apparel and foul weather gear, which Lins notes is worn by Alaskan fishermen on the reality TV show “The Deadliest Catch.”
The nursery gift shop has lots of critter-themed ornaments and decorations (owls are a popular choice), and a holiday tree of birds.
“There’s a phenomenal amount of women who collect birds,” Lins says.
Whether it’s birds for your tree, a wreath for your door or wind chimes to hang in the garden, Valley Nursery offers a “holiday happy hour” daily from 3-5 p.m. through Dec. 23. Customers receive 25 percent off any one item.
At Bremerton City Nursery, owner Theresa Dreaney says they limit their advertising mostly to a customer e-mail list. They also use Facebook posts to let customers know about specials such as an arrival of Jacob hellebores, a winter-blooming perennial that can “come inside for the Christmas season then be planted outside.”
The nursery, which also operates a landscaping business, has a selection of hand-decorated wreaths and fresh-cut Christmas trees from a local farm. There’s a small gift shop and The Coffee Spigot espresso stand as well.
Dreaney says the nursery’s main seasonal event is an after-hours holiday social from 5-8 p.m. on Dec. 7. It’s open to the public and is a good time for “visiting with friends and neighbors.”
As soon as the holidays are over, she says, “January comes and we’re already getting our stuff for spring ready.”
Prize drawings, other promotions entice holiday shoppers
Typical of the shop local campaigns is the Passport to the Holidays organized by the Bainbridge Island Downtown Association. A purchase of $10 or more at any of the 49 participating businesses gets a shopper’s passport stamped, and anyone who collects 24 stamps is entered in a drawing (on Jan. 2) to win one of four $1,200 shopping sprees, comprised of $25 gift certificates from every participating business.
“It’s a great way to track where people are shopping and spending their money,” Downtown Association executive director Andie Mackin says.
The Gig Harbor Historic Waterfront Association’s promotion is similarly designed to get people to shop at downtown stores, though no purchase is required for entry in a prize drawing.
Instead, businesses participating in the “Where’s Santa’s Cookie Plate?” scavenger hunt will hide a special Santa’s cookie plate in their business throughout the Dec. 7-9 weekend of the town’s Candlelight Christmas in the Harbor. Each person who finds it receives a ticket for a drawing for a $500 holiday waterfront shopping spree.
There also will be holiday hayrides with Santa that weekend provided by Miracle Ranch, with loading in front of Timberland Bank. Businesses will be open for extended hours and offering shopping specials.
Through Dec. 24, visitors can vote for the People’s Choice winner in the Deck the Harbor storefront decorating contest. Awards will be presented to the business judged to be the best in each of the following categories:
- Best painted windows
- Best storefront (can include doorways, foyers, courtyards)
- Best window display
- Best use of candlelight theme
- Best representation of business
The People’s Choice Award will be presented the week after Christmas.
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