DAYTON, Ohio  — For the first time in nearly 30 years a holiday tradition is back in the Miami Valley. Holly Days is a family-friendly event featuring live performances, artists and 34 local vendors for people to find gifts for the holidays.

What You Need To Know

  • Holly Days is a three-day community event that features local vendors, artists and performances at the Dayton Arcade

  • Holly Days was last held in 1993

  • Hundreds of people showed up for the first day of the event

  • Vendors are excited to interact with customers in an iconic space
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One of the vendors is Handy Hats, a popular stop around the rotunda. 

“Handy Hats is a hat company,” said Dani Ruffolo, founder and CEO of Handy Hats. “They are hats with a pocket on the inside. So you can put your credit card, cash, keys, IDs, facemasks — it’s actually a patented product.” 

Ruffolo said being a featured vendor at Holly Days is a great way to grow her business and provide thoughtful gift ideas for customers. 

“It’s such a cool opportunity to actually see your customers in person,” she said. “A lot of my business is digital, so over the past year, or two years with COVID, it’s been really hard to see customers face to face. So it’s wonderful to interact and show some of the new products we’ve released this year.” 

Another vendor is Brixilated, a Dayton-based social enterprise that creates products and experiences one plastic brick at a time. 

“We’re on a mission to change the way the world plays with Lego,” said Adam Mullins, founder of Brixilated.

Mullins is thrilled to showcase his company’s products in such an iconic space. 

“It’s great to have another community event where everybody can celebrate Dayton, the area and the holidays,” he said. 

They’re also building a 289-piece community Lego mosaic to bring everyone together. 

“We’re just excited to see everybody, to have everybody out and have everybody just spend some quality time as citizens of Dayton,” Mullins said. “It’s been a while since we’ve been able to do that.” 

The Stivers High school choir performed Christmas carols on the first day of Holly Days at the Dayton Arcade.

Lisa Hanson, President of Culture Works Dayton, said with a big turnout on day one of the event, it’s clear to see people are excited for the return of a Miami Valley favorite that was last held in 1993.

“We’ve had over 3,000 shares about the event,” Hanson said. “And I think folks are excited to get out and about a little bit and enjoy this space and see that it has truly been brought back to life."

Holly Days continues Thursday from 3-8 p.m. at the Dayton Arcade.