The weather in the Village on November 10th made it feel like a summer evening during the annual Broad Ripple Holiday Preview Party. The streets were packed with shoppers, and the store windows were fitted with lights and holiday decorations. The Holiday Preview Party gives shoppers a jump-start on their holiday gift ideas. The shops and galleries stayed open late; most of the stores had a special event such as musicians or an artist on hand. There were hors d'oeuvres at most stops, as well as wine tastings presented by Cork & Cracker.

Merchants and residents decorated ceramic stars in the past few weeks to be sold during the preview party. The proceeds will be used to sponsor four families through the United Christmas Service program of the United Way. A few of the hand-decorated stars are still available at Ceramic Dreams, which is located at 1134 East 54th Street.

For this year's event, 32 businesses joined together. Style Salon had several artists inside and musicians playing out front on 64th Street. One entire room at Style was devoted to tasty treats!

Over on Ferguson, Michael Jones and Stephanie Wyne performed as the musical duo Breeze at The Wellness Space. Leigh Standley was at gingko signing her works for a long line of fans. Leigh's items available at gingko includes prints with whimsical art and sayings.

I stumbled upon an interesting man in front of The Bungalow. Professor Bigelow (aka Edward Grogan) looked like a character right out of Mary Poppins as he entertained passersby with his fiddle.

Last but not least, I visited with glass blowing artist Yuri Okamoto, who was featured at Artifacts. Yuri had a wide range of art glass on exhibit - from tabletop snowmen and tree ornaments to sophisticated vases.

There was too much going on this year for me to cover it all. I need someone who likes to shop, write, and take pictures to volunteer to help cover Broad Ripple events!