Downtown Bozeman Welcomes Thousands For 2021 Christmas Stroll

In the end, it was a perfect night as thousands of Bozemanites got together and partook in some Christmas cheer for the 2021 Christmas Stroll. This was the 41st Annual Stroll and folks from all over gathered to kick off the Holiday Season in downtown Bozeman.

What started off as a very windy afternoon with gusts up to 43 mph, turned into a calm evening with extremely mind temperatures. In fact, several folks mentioned they couldn't remember a Christmas Stroll with temperatures so warm.

There were plenty of activities, including a rock-climbing wall, plus a whole lot of Christmas Spirit as different choirs sang popular Christmas songs.

With 50 different vendors lining up Main Street, the smells from the different foods were certainly an early Christmas gift for our noses. From everything from Bar B Q to Fry Bread to Kettle Corn, those in attendance had a nice variety to choose from when it came to culinary treats. Of course all of the normal restaurants downtown were open as were most of the retail stores which made for very busy sidewalks.

Kids of all ages were smiling from ear to ear, especially when Santa Claus appeared. Santa greeted the crowd and even mentioned, that there might be more folks downtown than at Bobcat Stadium (apparently, that's where he came from as everyone knows Santa is a Bobcat fan.) With each stop, the crowd would sing along with Santa and then through the magic of Christmas, Santa would turn on the famed Christmas lights on Main Street.

As I walked up and down Main checking out the different stores and vendors what I saw was a whole lot of happiness and isn't that what Christmas is really about? Joy? Togetherness? Celebrating something bigger than us? There was all of that and a whole lot more.

It truly was a magical night and a huge thank you to everyone that was a part of making it so, especially Downtown Bozeman.  Christmas is my favorite time of year and last night was one of the reasons why.