Holiday Highlights
By Veronica Quintin
As we get closer to the holiday season, many people grow excited about Florida’s unique events that are focused on this special time of year. Countless winter events occur in Florida, but the most popular ones in the area are Night of Lights, ICE, and the Jacksonville Light Boat Parade. These events are targeted at all ages, and they all evoke the excitement of the holidays. All take place from November to January and take place at various times of the day, but even though these events are all around the same time of year, they all have diverse ways of celebrating the holidays.
Night of Lights is an award-winning winter event that takes place every year in the oldest city in America, St Augustine. This is a free event intended for everyone and it lasts from November 18 to January 31. Its main appeal is that the city is lit up with more than 3 million beautiful lights, made possible by the different organizations that contribute to this celebration, specifically the St Johns County Government and the ‘Angels in the Architecture’. Night of Lights originated from the Spanish tradition of displaying a white candle in their windows during Christmas time with the candle representing the Spanish people welcoming Jesus into their hearts. The lights are displayed throughout the entire city, but the best possible viewing spot is the Plaza de la Constitución and the Bridge of Lions. This event is well-loved by the people in Northern Florida as Nease student Sophia Drake says, “I think it’s really cool. My favorite part is the train/bus ride through St. Augustine to see all the different buildings’ lights.” The love for this event seems to come from the creative lights and decorations on display which is supported by Nease student Amaya Mangus saying, “…because everything is so Christmas themed and it makes me want to decorate the house.”
The Jacksonville Light Boat Parade is an iconic holiday event that takes place in downtown Jacksonville, specifically at the St Johns River. This parade is a one-night event on November 25 at 6:00 p.m. and this thirty-year-old tradition is known for bringing Jacksonville together as a community during a special time of the year. The parade displays all varied sizes of ships decorated for the holidays and anyone can participate by signing up. All the boats in the parade will be judged based on their decorations and throughout the parade, there will be fireworks and a special waterfall firework display that will happen on the Main Street Bridge.
ICE at the Gaylord Palms, Orlando is a beautiful and immersive art exhibit that revolves around an iconic holiday movie. ICE is intended for all ages, and it lasts from November 17 to January 3. This event is known for its breath-taking ice sculptures and this year’s sculptures are themed after “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” These sculptures are made by craftsmen from Harbin China, also known as the Ice City, who moved to Central Florida to spend the next six weeks working on these sculptures. About 5,000 tons of ice are used to create these beautiful sculptures. Also, while ICE’s focus is the ice sculptures, this event has a bunch of other activities like Cirque: Spirit of Christmas, Snow Flow Mountain (Ice Tubing), the Merry Snoopy Christmas Scavenger Hunt, and many more.
While all these events are different in their own way, each one has something that can appeal to anyone. Each event gives someone the comforting and loving feeling of the holiday season and it allows friends and family to come together for something truly special.
