Downtown Grand Illumination Festival - Friday, December 2nd 5pm-8pm

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Downtown Grand Illumination Festival - Friday, December 2nd 5pm-8pm

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Started 6 months ago by sciotomile
Latest reply from Walker

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sciotomile

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Grand Illumination Ceremony
Friday, December 2nd
Bicentennial Park
5 PM

Join Mayor Michael B. Coleman for a celebration of the holiday season and Grand Illumination of Bicentennial Park, the Scioto Mile Promenade, City Hall and Columbus Commons. Activities begin at 5 PM with ceremony at 6 PM.

Enjoy strolling performers, traditional carols and a special appearance by Santa! In the spirit of giving, support the Empty Bowls project by purchasing a piece of handcrafted pottery and receive a bowl of signature mac 'n cheese compliments of Milestone 229. All proceeds benefit the Mid-Ohio Foodbank.

Culminate the evening with a holiday lights walking tour led by Mayor Coleman and Santa, departing from Bicentennial Park, strolling along the Promenade and concluding at Columbus Commons. Complimentary hot beverages and holiday sweets will be available along the walking tour.

Parking: Front St. and Rich St. parking garage, area surface lots and meters

http://www.SciotoMile.com

Grand Illumination
Downtown Columbus
Dec. 3, 2011 through Jan. 15, 2012
Dusk to dawn

Celebrate the season as Downtown Columbus comes alive during the holidays. Twinkling lights and a holiday tree will greet visitors at City Hall where children can drop off that special letter at Santa’s workshop. Columbus Commons comes alive with lighted displays to delight the young and young at heart. Stroll along the illuminated Scioto Mile Promenade to Bicentennial Park where penguins, snowmen and Santa will welcome visitors to a winter wonderland. Stop in Milestone 229 to warm up with a hot beverage and dinner while enjoying a panoramic view of the park and downtown skyline.

Parking: Front St. and Rich St. parking garage, area surface lots and meters

http://www.SciotoMile.com

Posted 6 months ago #
byJody
Rural NW Columbus
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More lights, more action Downtown?
Scioto Mile, Columbus Commons to join holiday light show
By Mark Ferenchik
The Columbus Dispatch Sunday November 27, 2011 6:23 AM

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/11/27/more-lights-more-action-downtown.html

5pm Festivities begin at Bicentennial Park;
6pm Guest of Honor arrives via Pedicab!
Following the Grand Illumination is a Walking Tour led by Mayor Coleman and the Special Guest which ends at Columbus Commons.
6pm-8pm Free carousel rides and hot chocolate at Columbus Commons

Posted 6 months ago #
AmyJ

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This sounds really fantastic.

Posted 6 months ago #
Pickerington_Kyle

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yeah, I went to the one in Louisville on Friday, and there's was spectacular. I hope ours is as good.

Posted 6 months ago #
CalebR
Lincoln Village
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It will be better :D

Posted 6 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Grand Illumination Festival Takes Place Downtown on Friday
By: Walker

Thanks to the magic of daylight saving time, it currently starts getting dark around 4pm. But Downtown is going to be getting a whole lot brighter at night as over 180,000 holidays lights come on this Friday evening for the first ever Grand Illumination celebration.

READ MORE: http://www.columbusunderground.com/grand-illumination-festival-takes-place-downtown-on-friday

Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Bump! Tonight! Can't wait for this! :D The kids are gonna love it! ;)

Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Stephen43215 said:
I think someone is going to get fired over the lighting ceremony at the Scioto Mile..The mayor was stalling while waiting for more lights to come on..on the other hand, Columbus Commons looks very festive!!

I think you might be right...

I was really hyped up to see this, and the actual flipping of the switch was kind of a let down.

That being said, the lights at Columbus Commons were really nice and it was great to see a lot of people out and about. MoJoe and Milestone both looked busy too. We need more casual restaurants in the area. Maybe some places to do some Christmas Shopping too...

Posted 5 months ago #
Pickerington_Kyle

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pictures?

Posted 5 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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I loved the lights at Columbus Commons.

The programming for Grand Illumination seemed a bit too long for an event with so many kids.

Posted 5 months ago #
JazzFestAllNite
Olde Town East
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We had a great time down there with our 2 year old but it was not due to the "Grand" illumination. Reminded me of Clark Griswold plugging his lights in before realizing they all ran through the switch in the garage.

Columbus Commons looks great & the free Merry Go Round rides were a big hit. I guess we were expecting to be blinded by the 100k+ lights, seemed like Coleman felt the same way.

Posted 5 months ago #
Stephen43215
Downtown
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This is the first year for something like this to happen in downtown Columbus; over time they can add and readjust to make it a better experience. We did have a good time downtown and enjoyed seeing all the people out.

Posted 5 months ago #
buckeyevintage

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Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Nice photos!!!

Posted 5 months ago #
Asch
OSU Campus
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From what I had seen on the internet, I thought all the festivities were at the Commons, and I wasn't the only one. We were there at 5... and my kid got several carousel rides all by himself because no one else was there. Then as families started trickling in, we had our free hot chocolate... and the lights all came on at 5:28 without an announcement or anything (and I was thinking the ceremony was going to be there)... I was so confused. People kept saying "What just happened? Why are the lights on? I thought there was a ceremony? I thought there was more than a carousel & hot chocolate/cookies? This isn't what I thought It'd be..."

They definitely need to do a better job next year of explaining that the festivities are split (most families with young kids are not going to walk between the two parks in the frigid cold, so they'll just pick one) if they insist on splitting things like this, they really need a little old fashioned street car (not necessarily with tracks) or something to shuttle people back and forth.

Disappointed in how they handled that, BUT I also understand that the first year of anything is going to be rough, and so as long as they fix that next year, it's fine. I am always appreciative of free hot chocolate & cookies, and all the kids loved the carousel and rode it over and over again. Outdoor space heaters next year PLEASE! We were so numb I tried to go in the Commons bathrooms just to warm up a bit, but they were not open (???).

The lights were nice (although the tree was out alone in a dark field and still not big enough to really command much attention at all, I'm not even sure if I saw it after the lights went up), and of course that damn blank wall! Hoping that when they're done with the construction over there, they will hang giant posters and light it up nicely.

My friend Molly grabbed my camera in the parking garage and took this one. (Gotta give her credit since she obviously is better at my camera than I am).

Posted 5 months ago #
Anne
King Lincoln
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Too bad the helicopters were so loud at Bicentennial Park! It was annoying to have that constant drone overtop the children singing and well, the entire thing really.

Posted 5 months ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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Anne said:
Too bad the helicopters were so loud at Bicentennial Park! It was annoying to have that constant drone overtop the children singing and well, the entire thing really.

+1

That was extremely annoying.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the large turnout as well.

Posted 5 months ago #
M.O.
Columbus
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The "complete schedule" on the Scioto Mile site was merely a vague graphic with plenty of events and times and precious little info on where those events would take place. It's no wonder one of the above posters was all alone in Columbus Commons during the festivities. Also, planning this right during rush hour guaranteed a pretty select and comparatively small crowd.

We passed on Friday but headed down tonight. Nice, tastefully-done lighting & great dinner at 229. The area is still begging for more "connective tissue" (CoJ's is a start) to knit together the Brewery District, Mile, & Arena. If we still had the mall and Lazarus I'm sure this beautiful riverfront makeover would be an instant smash, but starting over trying to connect this piddly field called "Columbus Commons" is going to be a tough road. Very few people out even on a warm night. CoJ's with a few lonely hipsters pretending to talk to somebody on their headsets & more safety patrol than civilians at the park.

Posted 5 months ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown
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Not sure what time you were out, but between 5:30 and 6:30 there were at least a few hundred out and about between both parks and walking around in between. When we drove past CoJ on the way home (around 6:30) is was pretty busy there as well. I didn't stop to check to see what their clientele looked like and whether or not I should be judging them or insulting them, so YMMV.

I do agree that the areas in between the park need more "connective tissue". deNOVO is a good addition, and I've heard that the liquor store there is trying to turn their image around (they've often got an A-frame sign out on the sidewalk advertising the fact that they carry Watershed Gin & Vodka), though they don't seem to be open very late.

What would really help is a couple of extra specialty retail shops in some of those empty spaces along High and along Wall Street as imagined by The SID:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/wall-street-inspirations-to-spark-new-retail-ideas

Posted 5 months ago #
M.O.
Columbus
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Walker said:
Not sure what time you were out, but between 5:30 and 6:30 there were at least a few hundred out and about between both parks and walking around in between. When we drove past CoJ on the way home (around 6:30) is was pretty busy there as well. I didn't stop to check to see what their clientele looked like and whether or not I should be judging them or insulting them, so YMMV.

I do agree that the areas in between the park need more "connective tissue". deNOVO is a good addition, and I've heard that the liquor store there is trying to turn their image around (they've often got an A-frame sign out on the sidewalk advertising the fact that they carry Watershed Gin & Vodka), though they don't seem to be open very late.

What would really help is a couple of extra specialty retail shops in some of those empty spaces along High and along Wall Street as imagined by The SID:

http://www.columbusunderground.com/wall-street-inspirations-to-spark-new-retail-ideas

We were out in this time window (Saturday) but didn't see the hundreds. We were in CoJ about 6:30 -- you could have stopped by and judged and insulted me and I would have deserved it. I was wearing a very pretentious black leather motorcycle jacket and geotagging my lukewarm decaf on the latest touchscreen Blackberry. (I know. Points off for still using a Blackberry).

This is more wishful thinking than community planning, but it would be nice if we did more to preserve viable existing businesses so that this town could truly develop some character instead of patchy boom-bust flavor-of-the-decade planned retail themes. City Center was our best shot at that, IMO. Once an area is packing people in and we're not sending the parking meter guy out at all hours to scare them off we're on our way to a plan.

Posted 5 months ago #