ELY – Part of getting ready for Christmas in Ely for many cookie and treat lovers includes participating in the age-old tradition of the Christmas Cookie Walk.

Members of First Lutheran Church here spend countless hours in their kitchens in early December baking all sorts of traditional holiday goodies to donate for the church auxiliary’s Cookie Sale and Dessert Social. Each baker commits to making at least five dozen treats.

The event was held last Saturday afternoon in the church basement and was sold out in no time at all as cookie customers waited in a line that spiraled up the staircase and into the church lobby. Beginning at 1 p.m. sharp, one by one they filled a cake box with as many treats as it would hold. Experienced cookie walkers could place about three pounds of sugary perfection into their containers. Some even filled two boxes.

For $7 per pound, cookie walkers saved lots of time in their own kitchens this holiday season and helped pay for remodeling and renovations to the kitchen in the church fellowship hall that needs new plumbing and updated cupboards that date back to the late 1960s.

There was also a baked goods table overflowing with breads, tarts and other goodies, a craft table, complete with the cut-out fabric and instructions to make a life-size Common Loon doorstop (just add a bag of sand for the weight), and a silent auction for a queen-size and full-size handmade quilts.

After all that, participants could sit down and enjoy a dessert, homemade of course, and cup of coffee for just $3. At least one person was spotted eating cookies they had just bought as they made their way through the parking lot to their car.