This season’s illuminated festivities are promising to be over the top:
The Hartford Festival of Light ®: Hartford 375 Edition is Friday, November 26th and families are invited to ring in a new era of this beloved Hartford tradition.
Starting at 5PM on the day after Thanksgiving, Mayor Pedro Segarra, Sonar from The Wolf Pack, Tiny Tim and friends from “A Christmas Carol,” the Hartford Magnet Middle Marching Band (weather permitting) and members of the Middlesex Whalers and the Junior Wolf Pack youth hockey leagues will lead a Holiday Procession from Constitution Plaza, across State House Square, down Asylum Street to join Pucky the Whale and Santa (who will be riding his ice sleigh from the XL Center) and head to Bushnell Park.
The Hartford Festival of Light ® program is scheduled to begin at 5:45PM at the historic park and will include the ceremonial lighting and an announcement by Tiny Tim regarding the Toys for Tots collection— so please bring a new, unwrapped toy to drop off at a collection box at the park. Then there will be holiday music and an audience sing-a-long with CONCORA-to-Go and a professional skating demonstration on synthetic ice to invite folks back for public skating in Bushnell Park which runs from December 10, 2010 to January 6, 2011 (Three Kings Day). Community skating is supported by a grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and Lincoln Financial.
The Bushnell Park Carousel will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 11AM to 5PM from November 26th to December 18th. Santa will return to Hartford the weekend of December 10-12 at the Pump House Gallery in Bushnell Park.
Mayor Pedro Segarra says, “Hartford will be seen in a whole new light— literally! I invite families to visit again and again to rediscover Hartford and enjoy our shops, cultural centers, theatres and restaurants.”
The City of Hartford thanks a growing list of partners: The Greater Hartford Arts Council, The Connecticut Whale, Northeast Utilities, Mohegan Sun, UTC, The Bushnell, Travelers, Aetna, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Prudential, the Bushnell Park Foundation, Capital Properties, CBS Radio, Leadership Greater Hartford, People’s United Bank, Bank of America, Webster Bank, XL Insurance, Hartford Business Improvement District, Lincoln Financial, Charter Oak Utility Constructors, Robinson & Cole, and the Hartford Stage Company.
Reminder: The Hartford Parking Authority’s first “Freebie Night” is November 26th after 5PM as part of its Park n’ Dine special in conjunction with the Morgan Street, MAT, and Church Street garages. Please log on to www.hartfordparking.com for more details. Also, the Star Shuttle will be running that evening and there is parking at the state lot near the Bushnell. Additional handicapped street parking spaces will be reserved around Bushnell Park. For more information on the event, log on to www.letsgoarts.org.
This may have been the tenth press release sent from the City of Hartford on this event. On the plus side, these have not contained any celebration of demolished buildings.
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Joyce
It was sooo dark I could not find the box to put the toy I brought. What happened to the lights? Forget the lights on the trees…there was no light to even see in front of you. Who planned this out? light for the pedestrians would have been good. It was total chaos!
One good thing I saw……it was nice to see families come in large numbers for this event. Hartford is Happening! But get those lights!