on November 23, 2010 / by Downtown Dallas Inc. / in Blog Posts, Clean and Safe, DDI News, Doing Business, Parks and Public Space, Things To Do

NBC5 – City Lights 2010

Some 20 thousand people filled the streets of Main Street for City Lights 2010. It all happened last Saturday, November 20th. Festivities began at Main Street Garden with an outdoor market, food, music and activities for the entire family. The climax came with the lighting of the holiday tree. The one of a kind holiday tree has become a Downtown fixture since its debut last year at the opening of Main Street Garden.

“We just love our holiday tree”, says Kourtny Garrett, Senior Vice President of Marketing of Downtown Dallas, Inc. ”Over the last decade, Downtown Dallas has truly become a community, a place where people live, gather, and as we see at Main Street Garden – just be.  The tree represents, to us, the spirit of that community, of the people who have made Downtown their home – from residents and employees, to corporations and small businesses, as well as those who just come down on occasion to enjoy the excitement. The holidays have officially begun in Downtown Dallas once the tree is lit.”

After the the lighting of the holiday tree, everyone was invited to Neiman Marcus for the lighting of “Big Encounters of the Little Kind”, a whimsical crawl-tube experience that only Neiman Marcus can create. This is the second year Neiman Marcus has allowed children to experience their holiday windows by crawling through the tubes. New this year, features activated by adults and their smart phones may lead to virtual window shopping year around.

“These holiday crawl-tubes have completely redefined the ‘window shopping’ experience,” says John Crawford, President and CEO of Downtown Dallas, Inc. “The windows and the overall Neiman Marcus commitment to launching the holiday season Downtown is yet another demonstration of their corporate citizenship and why they continue to play an important role in Downtown commerce.”

Ignaz Gorischek, Vice President of store development for Neiman Marcus hopes to double the number of children who make it through this year’s crawl-tubes this year. He says visitors will be able to text a number to control one of six special effects inside the display and they can use camera phones to place themselves in space scenes. This year, displays create an outer space travel experience that is double the size of last year’s tubes. Dallas children involved in Big Brothers and Big Sisters helped decorate 800 stars for the celestial scene, known as “Big Encounters of the Little Kind.”

For the remainder of the evening families were encouraged to stay downtown to enjoy more family friendly activities at Main Street Garden and grown-ups were invited to stroll down to Pegasus Plaza for the Iron Cactus Cosmic Cocktail Corner, featuring DJ Billy Biscuits.

Downtown Dallas, Inc. would like to thank the following sponsors. We couldn’t have done it without your support:

tags: City Lights See More Posts