Taste of the town

Annual Cookie Stroll honors Groskopf

Conor Powers-Smith
Christina Demetriou Keefe's home will be decorated and one of the stops on the Holiday Cookie Stroll in Bass River Dec. 12.

Staff photo by David Colantuono

This year’s Holiday Cookie Stroll in Bass River, Saturday, Dec. 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will mark the 10th anniversary of the event, which has grown wildly in popularity in the last decade.

“Originally we were looking at maybe 400 people attending, we now sell out at 700,” said Patty Creighton, co-chairwoman of the stroll. “It’s a wonderful day in the community. It’s always in the same about two-mile radius of Bass River, and people love this area.” Many make special trips just to attend, she added. “They’re not just from this area. People who have summer homes here will come back just for that weekend.”

“Most of them come in costume, festive for the occasion, some have reindeer antlers, Christmas attire,” said Creighton’s fellow co-chairwoman Irene Woodbury. “There are two trolleys that go around the two-mile route, that you can flag at any time if you don’t feel like walking the two miles.”

The event does more than get residents in the holiday spirit, also serving as an important source of support for the South Yarmouth Library Association. “It’s our largest fundraiser for the year,” said Creighton. Each year the stroll takes in over $10,000. “It’s for the programs and materials for the adult and children’s sections of the library.” That includes everything from new books, CDs, and computer equipment to the summer reading program, the library’s series of author talks, and the popular Polar Express, another holiday staple.

Participants will walk or ride from house to house, collecting special homemade cookies at each stop. Six private homes, plus several important landmarks in the area, will make for a total of 10 stops.

“This year we have the Bass River Yacht Club, which has never been on before, and the Simpkins residences,” said Creighton. The Cultural Center of Cape Cod is also on the itinerary, and the library itself will be holding an open house, offering cider and cranberry bread.

Some shops and restaurants in the area participate in their own ways. “There are a couple of businesses that offer discounts on that day with a ticket,” said Creighton. Among them are the Bass River Mercantile, the Riverway Lobster House, and Couches to Candlesticks secondhand shop. Bass River Shoe Repair will be offering cider and music, and there will also be open houses at the Artists’ Paintbox art gallery, the South Yarmouth United Methodist Church, and the Yarmouth Friends Meeting House.

Baking enough cookies for 700 hungry strollers takes a lot of time and ingredients, both of which are donated by library supporters. “Everything is done by volunteers,” said Creighton. They even take requests, “If the homeowner has a particular type of cookie they want to serve.”

Included in the $15 ticket is a booklet listing the types of cookies served, with recipes for all of them. Participants also receive handmade bags that can be kept as souvenirs, and serve a useful purpose during the stroll as well. “Someplace to put your cookies, if you don’t feel like eating eight or nine cookies at once,” said Woodbury.

Children under 12 can take the stroll for free, but must have a ticket to get cookies. Some houses do hand out candy canes and other treats to all visitors, ticket or no. Organizers warn that tickets usually sell out prior to the event.

Honoring Bud Groskopf

Each year, the stroll is held in honor of a local resident who has done special work to support the library. This year’s honoree is a well-known Yarmouth figure whose impact has reached beyond the library to the surrounding neighborhood, and the town as a whole.

“He is a former trustee of the library, and he also has an ongoing fund every year,” said Creighton of Aubrey “Bud” Groskopf, who she hopes will be in attendance for the stroll. “We’re going to invite him to the library.”

Groskopf said his immediate reaction to being named this year’s honoree was, “In a word: undeserving. I’m a modest person.” But admits that he has done significant work for the neighborhood.

“I was one of the five founders of the Cultural Center,” Groskopf said. During his six-year span on the Board of Selectmen, Groskopf also helped secure improvements like sidewalks running between Old Main Street and Smugglers Beach. “We got all the baby carriages out of the road and onto the sidewalks, and all the runners and everyone as well.”

Groskopf also led an unsuccessful effort to convert the former John Simpkins School into a new town library. Following that attempt, in his capacity as president of the South Yarmouth Association he worked toward his second choice for the building’s use, affordable housing for seniors. “We endorsed it based on one caveat, it had to be for seniors and it had to be affordable.”

Groskopf’s involvement with the South Yarmouth Library began even before he and his wife Nancy moved to the Cape from California in 1996, following his retirement from the film industry. Nancy’s love of books was an important factor in choosing the location for their new home. “My wife was an avid reader,” Groskopf said. “It had to be very close to the library, it had to be walkable.”

In 1999, following Nancy’s death, Groskopf established a fund to honor her memory, and support the staff employees who had made the South Yarmouth Library a second home for her. “She just adored the people that worked there, and that’s why I set up a trust there,” he said.

The nonprofit trust helps finance improvements to make the library’s staff a little more comfortable in their jobs. For example, “They wanted new silverware down in the break room, they couldn’t get it because they couldn’t afford it,” Groskopf said. “I envision it as something to keep up the morale of the regular employees.”

“That’s what the honoree is about, someone who has contributed to the library in some way,” said Woodbury. On Dec. 12, others will have the chance to join Groskopf in his support, as well as filling up on homemade cookies, and getting to know the area a little better. “It’s a fun neighborhood day to support the Bass River community.”

Cookie Stroll info

The Tenth Anniversary Holiday Cookie Stroll will take place on Saturday, Dec. 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine, in historic Bass River, South Yarmouth. This year’s stroll has ten stops, including private homes, the Simpkins School Residences, the Bass River Yacht Club, and the Cultural Center of Cape Cod.  Free trolley transport will be available between groups of houses.

All proceeds go to benefit the South Yarmouth Library Association. 

Tickets are $15. Children under 12 are free, but only ticket holders receive cookies. Tickets are limited and may be purchased at the South Yarmouth Library; Bass River Shoe Repair at 146 Old Main Street; and Adrene Jewelers, 1198 Route 28, in the Hearth and Kettle Plaza. Tickets may be reserved with a credit card at 508-760-4820, ext. 1313, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets for the 10th annual Holiday Cookie Stroll are $15, and include booklets with recipes and souvenir cookie bags. Proceeds go toward materials and programs at the South Yarmouth Library. Tickets can be purchased at the library, 312 Old Main Street; Bass River Shoe Repair, 146 Old Main Street; and Adrene Jewelers, 1198 Route 28, in the Hearth and Kettle Plaza. Tickets can also be reserved with a credit card at 508-760-4820, ext. 1313, between 10 a.m. 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and noon to 4 on Sunday. If still available, tickets can be purchased up to Saturday, Dec. 12, the day of the stroll, but the number of participants is limited, and tickets usually sell out.