By Barbara Lavoie

Downtown Knowlton hopes to be mad with peo-ple, dining, shopping and participating in theseventh Midnight Madness event on Saturday,

December 8, from 5 p.m. to midnight.With just about every merchant on Lakeside Road,

and even some on the side streets too, busy decoratingtheir shops with seasonal finery and readying specialsfor shoppers and diners on the fun night, it’s hard notto mark this one in your calendar.

“Every year we keep growing. This year we have 27businesses involved, retailers, restaurants, cafés andbars, but in 2006 when we started we had only four,”said Lucy Hoblyn, owner of Brome Lake Books.

Since the start, she and Debbie Hornig, manager ofWoolrich men’s and women’s sportswear, next door toHoblyn’s bookstore, have been the key organizers.

“It’s a great crash-off for the Christmas season, a realhighlight for everyone, as much fun for the merchantsas it is for the shoppers,” she said.

Last year more than 2,000 crowded the streets, buy-ing gifts and enjoying a drink, a coffee, or a meal,many travelling in small groups and making a night of

it.“A lot of people are adding Knowlton’s Midnight

Madness to their annual Christmas traditions,” addedHoblyn.

Closing at midnight for this one night of the yearoffers local residents who are often unable to shop intown because they travel outside for employment theopportunity to shop locally.

All the merchants are making sure, “there’s some-thing for everyone’s budget.”

And on top of the value of eating local, shoppinglocal, there are plenty of prizes and activities plannedfor the night.

Every purchase you make enters your name in adraw for some very nice prizes, arts and crafts, spe-cialty bonbons made locally, dinners for two, cosmeticsand body treatments, and more.

A treasure hunt asks participants to find the an-swers to a series of questions by cruising the streetsand the stores. Booklets will be available from everymerchant. The winner, who will be announced the fol-lowing day, again receives a bounty of goodies con-tributed by the merchants.

Every store will be offering food samples and snacks,live entertainment will be in the restaurants, and evena few musicians will be performing in the stores.

Knowlton’s Harmony Band will hold a musical con-cert at 7 p.m. in the Knowlton United Church, andmembers of both the band and Knowlton Players, a

local theatre group, will once again stroll the streetssinging Christmas carols.

A horse-drawn sleigh, sponsored by the Chamber ofCommerce of Brome Lake, will transport riders fromone end of the main street to the other, jingling all theway.

Even Old Saint Nick gets caught up in the madness,making visits to some of the stores.

“Yes, Santa will make an ap-pearance,” said Hoblyn, with atwinkle in her voice. “Of course,that will all depend on whetherwe’ve been naughty or nice.”

As the days count down to Mid-night Madness, you can be surethere’ll be even more surprisesfor shoppers. Don’t miss gettinginto the Christmas spirit inKnowlton.

For more information, contactLucy Hoblyn, Brome Lake Booksby telephone at 450-242-2242, orby email at blb@b2b2c.ca, or Deb-bie Hornig, Woolrich by tele-phone at 450-243-0058, or byemail at woolrich-knowlton@bell-net.ca.

PAGE 4 • HOLIDAY TIME IN THE TOWNSHIPS • BROME COUNT Y NEWS T uesday , December 4, 2012

Eight years of Madness in KnowltonEat, shop and party until midnight

These two unidentified but local women caught on camerain Woolrich’s men’s and women’s sportswear store haven’tmissed a year since Knowlton’s Midnight Madness began in2006. They’ve made participating one of their annual Christ-mas traditions.

A group of Christmas carolers strike up a song in Woolrichmen’s and women’s sportswear shop on Lakeside Road inKnowlton. It’s just one of the many stops they make as theystroll about the streets bring good cheer to all during the vil-lage’s annual Midnight Madness event.