2010 Dayton Christmas Kickoff:

DAYTON - Last week's arctic-like weather kicked off an early winter in the valley, but it didn't do much to help downtown Dayton merchants with their annual Christmas Kickoff festivities.

"Shopping was down significantly from last year, and the number of people was down," said Lisa Ronnberg, executive director of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce. "Overall we had a beautiful setting with the snow, but the weather in the region was not favorable to us." Mindy Betzler's "cookie-ometer" confirmed Ronn ( berg's fears. Attendance was way down. "I think the forecast kind of scared people away, and I don't blame them," said the owner of one of Dayton's largest downtown retailers, Dingle's of Dayton. Betzler, who has owned and operated the hardware, sporting goods, gifts, collectibles and more store on the corner of Main and 1st for about six years, said she buys 45 dozen cookies for the kickoff event each year.

"Our cookies are a good judge for us," she said on Tuesday. "We're usually out of cookies by noon on Friday, but we actually still have some left." Still, it was certainly a lot busier than a regular Friday, Betzler said. Business has been down in general for many downtown retailers. Though the chamber and others encourage residents in town to shop locally, it seems folk are still driving to Walla Walla, the Tri-Cities or shopping online despite the recession. "As far as every day, our numbers are down," Betzler said. "I don't think people are shopping much here in town." But many of Dingle's regular customers are elderly residents, she said. "And boy oh boy, as much as we'd love to have them coming into town, we don't want them to get hurt in the snow and ice. I think when the weather gets better we'll see them in here." Not all merchants had a discouraging weekend. Carl Cramer at the new Dayton Wine Works tasting room at the east end of Main Street said he had record sales over the weekend. And Jacci Wooten, who owns Jacci's Yarn Basket on East Main, said she had shoppers come from as far away as Portland and the Tri-Cities to purchase from her large selection of yard and notions.

"We always do really well, and we did really well this year, too," she said. "When the weather turns this way, that's when people decide they want to do some handwork, be it knitting or crochet." Wooten said her unique shop, featuring the largest selection of sock yarn not to mention more than 30 product lines of regular yarn, is the only yarn store in the region. She regularly draws customers from the Clarkston-Lewiston area, Walla Walla, Milton-Freewater, Pomeroy, Moscow, and Pullman. Despite the low turnout over the holiday weekend, visitors and locals seemed to enjoy the festivities downtown on Friday and Saturday.

"As far as all the activities and events we were able to have, I think it went extremely well," Ronnberg said. "The parade was beautiful, and we always get a lot of complements on the fireworks. The folks who were here enjoyed themselves."

The chamber organizes this Christmas Kickoff during the weekend after Thanksgiving each year.

Though the mule-pulled hayrides were called off because of icy conditions on the road, dozens lined up to have photos with Santa. And downtown was packed with people after dark Friday for the lighted parade and the big fireworks display.