Lawrenceville merchants will serve up tasty samples of cookies to visitors during the tenth annual Joy of Cookies Cookie Tour, Thursday December 3 through Sunday December 6, 2009, at participating stores along Butler Street, Penn Avenue, 43rd, 44th, and Hatfield Streets.  Become a fan on Facebook!

Merchants invite visitors to experience the many fabulous, independently-owned shops, galleries, and boutiques that offer a range of unique, eclectic, and handcrafted treasures perfect for gift giving. The tour offers the “un-mall” experience for discerning shoppers who don’t want to settle for unoriginal gifts: extraordinary and rare items to please every age and style, cookie sampling, and eateries that offer great food and a place to relax, all among the historic, artistic, friendly neighborhood feel of Lawrenceville. While shopping, visitors can nibble on samples of home-baked cookies at 21 different shops and take home free recipes for their own baking. Cookies will be baked by Bernadette Ogurchak of Heaven’s Scent Pastries.

The tour happens Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Saturday, visitors can catch a trolley cruising the neighborhood from 34th to 55th Streets and side streets in between. Also on Saturday, visitors can attend a Cookie Mall bake sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Church, located on 37th and Butler. The bake sale, organized by the Lawrenceville Rotary, will benefit local community groups, including Friends of the Lawrenceville Library, Lawrenceville United, and St. John Neumann School.

Download a list of participating businesses and restaurants/coffee shops (Take-A-Break stops).

The Joy of Cookies Cookie Tour began in 1997 as a holiday open house at Jay Design Soaps & Gifts. Driven by a spirit of collaboration among the merchants, the event grew to include more than a dozen Lawrenceville merchants, with cookies added in 2000. Today, the Joy of Cookies Cookie Tour expects over 3,000 attendees.

The Joy of Cookies Cookie Tour is sponsored by the Lawrenceville Corporation, the Mainstreets Pittsburgh program, PNC Bank, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh City Paper, Lawrenceville Rotary, and the Joy of Cookies Cookie Tour Planning Committee.

For more information, contact Mary Coleman at Gallery on 43rd Street: 412.683.6488 or Nadia Diboun at the Lawrenceville Corporation: 412.621.1616 x 102.