With the Christmas season right around the corner, Wichita residents and students will be able to attend a citywide shopping day on Dec. 1 when historic Delano holds its annual “Light up Delano with Love” event. 

There will be an assortment of children’s activities, entertainment, shopping opportunities and vintage home tours, as well as several deals and discounts.

Kristen Fisher has been on the planning committee for two years. It used to be associated with several other traditions that have evolved into the new event.

“This is put on through historic Delano,” she said. “In the past they have done a Christmas parade. Everyone still asks about it, but it just got to be too expensive.”

Delano was developed in the 1870s as a cattle-shipping center along the Chisholm Trail. Over the years it has developed into a tight-knit community holding a lot of history of the Wild West. The shops and restaurants mirror the small-town feeling, and are welcoming to new visitors. “Light up Delano With Love” is an event that opens the community up and works for a cause.

Proceeds raised during the event go to Simple House, which supplies food and clothing to those in need in the Wichita area. Fisher said it is satisfying to support an organization during the event.

“We also try and do a lot of free events,” she said. “We are having kids activities, and we have a lot of different entertainment like carolers.”

She said there is something for everyone, and their goal is to attract more people to Delano, and give them an opportunity buy the rest of their holiday gifts.

“It’s a good day to start thinking about getting some Christmas shopping done and have a good time while you’re out doing it,” Fisher said. “It’s just this nice little neighborhood,” she said. “We’ve got lots of nice restaurants and little, local bars and lots of shopping.”  

“We are a community,” Nancy Lawrence, owner of Central Plains Novelty said. “We are a safe place to come shop, eat and play. Someplace that you would want to raise a family.”

Fisher encourages Wichita State students to take some time to visit the stores and explore Delano while events are happening. She said that Old Town has some nice bars, but Delano draws even more when people get tired of the same old bar scene. 

Festivities are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a lighting ceremony at the clock tower at 5:30 p.m. Other activities include the Jingle Bell Run starting at 8:30 a.m. at Exploration Place and River Lights, a parade of lighted boats put on by Wichita WRAPS. More information can be found at historicdelano.com.

“Delano is important to Wichita because of the history we have and for what we have and for what we have become,” Lawrence said. “It is a gem in the middle of our big town.”