Trinity Episcopal Church member Bill Simmons shows off some of the barbecue pork roasts he made for the Christmas Cookie Walk on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Over a hundred dozen cookies filled a display in Trinity Episcopal Church’s fellowship hall on Saturday, during the church’s annual Christmas Cookie Walk.

The long-established event, according to organizer Elaine Dorosh, has been held right after the Shepherdstown Christmas Parade since the early 2000s. Dorosh noted it was founded by the church in the War Memorial Building, only to be moved after its current location was constructed. Over the years, it has grown into a popular community event, featuring a number of homemade soups and bread, along with Bill Simmons’ award-winning barbecue and several craft vendors.

“It’s a good way to spend some time after the Christmas parade, with people from the church and community,” said church member Cathy Baker, who was in charge of the homemade soup station. “This is an example of the many different kinds of events that the churches in the area do from each other, which allows us to then go and support each other. I like all of the diversity between the things that Shepherdstown’s churches do!”

Baker herself made chicken corn chowder for the event, which was offered alongside four other soup varieties: tomato basil, beef vegetable, mushroom and smoky chowder. She said she has been actively helping with this event since around the same time as Simmons began offering his pulled pork barbecue sandwiches and barbecue whole pork roasts there every year.

“I’m not a caterer, but I made barbecue for competitions around the country for 25 years. That’s why I have the meat smoker and all of the equipment needed to do this,” Simmons said, mentioning he competed within the Kansas City Barbeque Society. “One year, my barbecue sauce won third place in the National Capital Barbecue Battle in downtown Washington, D.C.!”

Community members fill Trinity Episcopal Church’s fellowship hall, during the annual Christmas Cookie Walk on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

Simmons began cooking 130 pounds of pulled pork and 40 pork roasts the day before the Christmas Cookie Walk. While it was a big undertaking, he said he views it as a worthwhile effort, because the funds from the event proceeds will be used to benefit his church’s youth group and service live-streaming abilities. And, as the church’s treasurer, Simmons is acutely aware of the need for fundraising efforts like this to succeed.

“We are now live-streaming services online, but we don’t have any equipment for it, so we’re doing it all with a smartphone,” Simmons said. “This event should raise a good portion of what we will need for a video camera. We’ve had a very good turnout, so far!”

For Dorosh, seeing the event grow in popularity over the years has been incredibly encouraging. She noted that the number of cookies at this year’s event had sold so well, that only a quarter of them remained, halfway through the event. However, she said she hopes to see the Christmas Cookie Walk continue to expand in the future.

“It’s something that I can give back to my church and the community,” Dorosh said, mentioning she uses her professional experience creating displays for a high-end department store in Miami, Fla. in creating the cookie table display every year. “Hopefully, we can raise a good amount of money from the cookie walk this year, because we really need to improve our service live-streaming! The cellphone we’ve been using sometimes drops out while recording a service or the connection isn’t good and keeps dragging. We want to be able to improve on that!”

Community members pick some homemade cookies to take home with them from the Christmas Cookie Walk on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

A couple selects the food they would like to eat at the Christmas Cookie Walk on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston