A few days before Thanksgiving Dan and I made our annual trip to the "Festival Of Lights" on 3rd street South. We just call it the Lighting of the Christmas Tree.
3rd St.S. is a block of street that has high end shops and restaurants. A few times a year they host fun evenings. Block off the street and have entertainment, street vendors and bands and more. We go every once in a while to see a friend from the hotel play in his band... but usually before Thanksgiving, is the lighting of the Christmas tree in the corner of 12th ave S and 3rd st.
So we go. It's fun and they even set up the street light with fake snow. It will snow around 6:30pm after Santa comes down the street to light the tree outside of 'Tony's on Third'. The snow is actually soap, so the street gets slippery, but the kids LOVE it and it's fun. Santa is brilliant. The mayor of Naples and the Police Captain head the parade which is a block long and they stop at the tree. Santa then gets out of his horse and carriage and lights the tree. The news is there and lots of people.
This year Dan and I planned really well. We got a great parking spot 'cause we headed down much earlier this year. Like at 4pm. things really don't start until 6. But we coped two stools at our favorite restaurant on 3rd. 'The Old Naples Pub' had a few apps and headed out the door in search for Dan's friend who were working the event. Some of the Naples police Officers. These are guys that Dan has known for years and we always see them. It was early enough that we got to spend quite some time talking and catching up. These are great guys and because we don't see them but once a year it is always great to catch up. We walked up and down the street watching all the shows, listening to the bands and found two random chairs on the sidewalk outside the art gallery and ate some kettle corn while watching Santa come down the street and light the big tree. we met up with some friends and walked more. Ended the evening with 'Lenny's Italian Ice' and good laughs. We had a great time....
One thing I noticed was the weather. It was warn. Most times this has been going on it has been cold and kept people away. This year it was SO warm. I was happy for that Italian Ice because it cooled me down, but due to the weather I could not believe the amount of people there. I have never seen that many people at the tree lighting. It seemed funny because we were there so early and then it was like all of a sudden BOOM thousands of people. Incredible. We are not crowd folk but had to muddle our way through it and did so.
It was a great night and cannot wait to bring Joey next year to see all the fun stuff that goes on right down the street from where we live. It's not Rockefeller Center Tree or concerts, but everyone involved does a great job at putting the Christmas spirit in the air. It did feel a lot like being in the middle of New York City with all the people there, but the tree looked perfect this year and the soap snow was wonderful. Santa was so real and the vendors get bigger and bigger each year.
The lighting of the Christmas Tree in downtown Naples has become a tradition for me and Dan. It is our own Rockefeller Center...
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