Nearly 30 businesses are gearing up for a special event in downtown

Winchester. The second annual Winter Walkabout is set to begin at 5 p.m. Thursday with a variety of things going on downtown. Betty Jane Glasscock, co-owner of Court Street Gifts, said this is the second year the businesses organized the event.

“It’s full participation of everyone downtown,” she said. “This is a way for people who don’t get downtown … to come downtown.”

Each business is offering a prize for a drawing, she said, which can range from gift certificates to specific items from a business. At the end of the evening, all the submitted names will be combined before the winners are drawn. All the downtown businesses, including In-N-Out Barbecue and Engine House Pizza Pub, will be open until 8 p.m., she said. Some will have special events within their stores.

“We’re going to have Dewey Pope here for a book signing,” Glasscock said. Pope, a local musician and artist, recently published a book about his time in Action Unlimited, a band that nearly made it to the big time in the 1960s. We’ll do a sale that night. Some will do specific items.”

The businesses will be open from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Thursday.