Wandering Around the Frederick Promenade On December 14th

Christmas is approaching.  I have a tradition around the holidays of buying Zoe's Chocolate with my brothers for the staff at Bitner Henry.

I can’t remember when we started doing this, but now it feels like we’ve been doing it forever. 

The tradition started one year because my wife and I love their chocolate and I wanted to share it with my coworkers.  More than just love it, we rave about it.

The first time I bought their chocolate was before my kids were born.  Judy arrived home after an hour commute back from Rockville.  It was dark outside.  Before she could walk in the front door of our house, I presented her with a white box of 9 chocolates, wrapped with their signature pink bow.  I had waited to try any of them until she got home.  She put down her bag, and we stood in the doorway and ate all 9 of them.  She would eat one half, demand that I try it, then hand me the other part of the chocolate .  Caramel dripped on our chins when we bit into the pieces with liquid centers.

And as is my habit, when I love something, I want everyone else to love it too.

So one year I bought chocolates for the staff.  It was a much smaller staff then.  Maybe 10 bars.  Now my brothers and I buy 30.

Every year it’s a hit. 

I needed to make my chocolate score, so my wife and kids made the excursion with me downtown. 

Me, Ben, Eleanor, and Judy on the Carroll Creek Promenade in Frederick. The Sun was in our eyes.

Downtown was busy. We had to drive through 3 different parking garages to find a place to park. First we tried the garage on Church Street, then the parking lot near the courthouse. When both of those were full, we made our way to the East All Saints Drive Garage.

I'm glad we found a spot when we did. Ben was starting to whine in the backseat and argue with Eleanor about the music selection.

Sailing Through Winter Solstice on the Frederick Promenade

Downtown was busy because there was event on the Carroll Creek Promenade. Vendors were lined up on either side of the creek. They were local artisans selling hand crafted soaps, wooden coasters, toys, cookies and cinnamon buns, books, and all kinds of other things.

We wandered from tent to tent buying Christmas gifts. A hand carved ornament in one place, soaps in another, wooden toy dragons in a third place.

A Kraken themed boat. This one was my favorite.

There are boats in the creek. The Downtown Partnership in Frederick does this every year. A local business will sponsor a boat, each with its own theme, and there will be a local nonprofit alongside them. Each of the boats are unique. My kids would pause and point at one that had a Lego theme, or another that looked like a squid.

The Downtown Partnership sponsors this event year.

Eventually we wandered down to Zoe's and bought the chocolate. I had two arms full of chocolate bars.

"I'll take all these," I said as I dumped them on the counter. Two high school kids frantically counted and sorted the chocolate bars, making sure they didn't ring me up for the wrong number.

After a couple hours of wandering the in the cold, we made our way home.

But the Promenade is one of the reasons my wife and I love Frederick. There are cultural events here almost every weekend. It's alive and bustling with energy. Some weekends it's concerts. Others its local artisans.

Any time I need an excursion, I can tell the kids we're going to the Library and allow ourselves to get sidetracked by the promenade.

It's part of what makes Frederick home.