MT. STERLING, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Court Days Festival attracts many people to visit downtown Mt. Sterling, and mixed in with all of the temporary vendors are the local businesses that will still be there once the festival wraps up.
Fragrance fills the air outside one store, Lighthouse Candles LLC. Mechelle Romans is a dental assistant in Mt. Sterling, but she also became the Lighthouse owner less than a year ago.
“I've learned a whole lot about candles and the things it takes to make candles,” she said. “I've learned a whole lot about just being a business owner.”
Romans makes the candles there at the store. Some candles are Kentucky-specific, like a limited box set with court days scents.
“They're only gonna be available for a limited time,” Romans said.“It's a 4-ounce candle of all of the scents that everybody knows from Court Day. We have Kentucky butter rum, sweet tobacco, kettle corn, and then Kentucky ginger ale.”
Lighthouse also allows customers to make their own one-of-a-kind candles.
“You can come in and choose your own vessel, you can blend your own custom fragrance and make your candle,” she said.
Outside in the downtown area, candles aren’t the only scents. You can also catch a whiff of pizza from Tomatoes & Flames.
“You can never just go wrong with a good old margarita pizza, the fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, fresh sauce that we make every day,” said Eric Arnold, the owner.
Arnold is a Mt. Sterling native who spent some time in Lexington before moving back to his hometown.
“Had worked in restaurants and management pretty much my whole career,” Arnold said. “This restaurant came up for sale during COVID and was kind of like the perfect opportunity.”
It was an opportunity to build up his business, add to the downtown community, and represent his family.
“My grandfather was a state representative here for like 33 years,” Arnold said. “It's just so rewarding to be brought back into the fold and be able to contribute, um, and kind of carry on that tradition.”
Neither Arnold nor Romans has spent nearly as much time downtown as Tracy Shrout and her store Oopsy Daisies, though.
“Bob's Music is the oldest, and then I'm the next as far as retail business,” Shrout said.
January will mark 20 years since Shrout brought the children’s clothing store.
“Where I've been here for almost two decades, it's just fun to see. I was clothing these people who are coming in now buying for their own children, so I've seen multiple generations come through, and I've actually even had three generations work for me.”
Along with kids’ clothing, Shrout opened a women’s clothing store, Riley Renee’s. That’s been open for nine-and-a-half years, but the two businesses were just moved under the same roof in July.
These businesses will be bustling for Court Days, and they hope to make each visitor feel welcome in their downtown home.
“It's always fun to be downtown because our downtown has so much to offer,” Shrout said.
