Octoberfest and Christmas Scrip Kickoff 2019

Let the holiday fun commence.

The turning of the leaves to fall colors — and the occasional snow flurry — means the holiday season is upon us and the Malta Merchants will get the ball rolling next Thursday, October 24, with the Octoberfest Celebration and Christmas Scrip Kick-Off.

Last year it was decided that the Parade of Lights would be moved into November and in its place, the family-fun Octoberfest and Christmas Scrip Kickoff, featuring a soup cookoff, scarecrow decorating contest, and business storefront decorating contest, would be held.

The Soup Cook-Off will get underway on Thursday, October 24 at the Stockman Terrace from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Entry fees for contestants will be $10 per team and each team will be tasked with bringing their own ingredients, power cords, and other supplies. The team who wins first prize takes home $50 in Dino Bucks, as did first place winner Tammy McNamara with her homemade clam chowder last year. The public is invited down to the Stockman Terrace to sample the soups – unlimited tastes, in fact until the soups are gone — for $3 per person or $15 per family. Katie Smith from Westside Self Service is the Chairperson for this event and for questions can be contacted at 654-1406.

Ahead of the soup simmering, the Scarecrow Decorating Contest starts at 5:30 p.m. at the Stockman Terrace. Each contestant will be providing all their own decorations for their scarecrow decorating efforts and prizes will be awarded for the top three finishers. (This contest is open to individuals and groups, not businesses as local merchants will have their own storefront decorating contest during the night’s events.) Voting will take place during the soup cookoff as the public are given a ticket to vote on their favorite scarecrow. Phillips County Museum Curator Lori Taylor is the Chairperson of the event and can be contacted at 654-1037 for more information.

The Storefront Decorating Contest will take place on the night and customers will receive ballots to vote on their favorite storefront upon making purchases in businesses around town. A trophy will be awarded to the first place business after all the votes have been counted and Spare Change will try to retain the crown they earned last year with their first-place efforts with the live window display.

New to this year’s Octoberfest and Christmas Scrip Kickoff will be the Rough Riders 4-H Club who will be hosting a bake sale at the Stockman Terrace. Next Thursday Malta Merchants have your covered with shopping, entertainment, dinner and dessert!

All the aforementioned events are centered around the Christmas Scrip Kickoff. This no-interest Christmas Scrip loan program is available at all three local banks; The First State Bank of Malta, Bank of Malta, and Independence Bank and co-sponsored by the Malta Area Chamber of Commerce.

Scrip offers up $1,000 in loans, that are paid back in 10 monthly installments. It traditionally kicks off around the end of October and runs through December 24.

Last year, Phillips County residents kept $265,680 of their local dollars at home and shopped locally for the 2018 holiday season. The Christmas Scrip program has been around for more than 30 years in Phillips County, continues to be a valuable program for local residents to shop at home, and spread out the financial cost of the holidays for those big expenses, throughout the year.