DTD: CityLights Holiday Schtuff

[Agnus Dei]

http://www.downtowndallas.com/citylightsgeninfo.htm


ABOUT CITYLIGHTS!
Kick off the Holidays with CityLights!
A Downtown Shopping and Lighting Extravaganza
The Central Dallas Association and Neiman Marcus collaborate to make Downtown THE shopping and entertainment destination for the Holidays.The Central Dallas Association and Neiman Marcus are thrilled to announce the debut of a brand new event for Downtown Dallas, CityLights!, beginning a Downtown Holiday shopping and lighting tradition on Friday, November 18, 2005!

The street-wide extravaganza begins outside of Neiman Marcus at 7:00 p.m., then progresses down Main Street, promoting new retail in the Main Street District.

Following the legendary lighting of the Neiman Marcus store, the Downtown Holiday tree will be lit at Pegasus Plaza by special guest Eddie Coker, and Eddie will entertain children and adults alike with a lively holiday performance!

Throughout the evening attendees will be encouraged to shop and dine with promenades led by street performers, striking holiday lights, extended holiday hours, discounts and giveaways at each participating location (most retailers open until 10:00 p.m. or later for event).



This sounds pleasant. If the weather stays cool maybe I can finally get in the mood for the holidays.

Sorry if this isn't in the right forum.

[CityLove]

YAY! What a great way to celebrate my first day as a downtown resident!!!!

Sorry guys..I know I'm mentioning this ad naseum. I'm just soo excited!

[Justin Terveen]

The tree in Pegasus Plaza is up....

[RadicalBender]

Darn. I was hoping this was about the other CityLights. But I guess this is neat, too.

[Boredkid]

Some one mind taking pics of it... For those of us that are stuck in our offices and are too lazy to leave the building at lunch?

[CityLove]

The article says the "street-wide extravaganza begins" at 7 PM. So you shouldn't have to leave at lunch to catch the event.

[effulgent]

There's also some really good dinner deals, such as 25% off dinner at Jerobaum and 10% off of dinner at Campisi's.


Here's the link to all of the Shopping and Dining specials:
http://www.downtowndallas.com/citylightsshop.htm

[DalLove444]

There's also some really good dinner deals, such as 25% off dinner at Jerobaum and 10% off of dinner at Campisi's.


Here's the link to all of the Shopping and Dining specials:
http://www.downtowndallas.com/citylightsshop.htm
Thanx effulgent for posting the link!! I saw the website for Footgear(1608 Main), looks like i got a new pair of sneakers to buy!!! Those ADIDAS are HOT!! I also saw Swirll and Kul, but the Benji's site seems to be down right now.

I cant help feeling excited about whats going on in Downtown today!! AWESOME :bounce: :bounce:

[Agnus Dei]

I went to the unveiling and lighting tonight. It was fun! Very nice to see a mixed crowd in Main Street. Families, young singles, groups of friends. The window display is gorgeous (though, I will admit to being slightly disappointed that it's not as Christmasy as past displays have been), as always. It's going to be featured on HGTV again this year, so yeehaw. The band was very entertaining.

A good crowd seemed to turn out for Edie Coker, though I didn't stay past the first song.

Ninjatune, were you there? I thought I saw you, but I wasn't sure.

[drumguy8800]

Ninjatune, were you there? I thought I saw you, but I wasn't sure.I was down there taking pictures.. it might've been me? I was trying to get good, clean shots from stationary objects (like newspaper stands and stuff) so I probably stuck out.

[Columbus Civil]

Y'all do look quite a bit alike.

[Justin Terveen]

Ninjatune, were you there? I thought I saw you, but I wasn't sure.

Nah.. I was lazy and just watched from my window... I did walk over to urban market after things started to wind down though... Quite a few ppl were out... they had a little band playing out in front of Fuse along with face painting for the kids in front of UM.... fun stuff..

[Agnus Dei]

Quick notice: The HGTV special that includes the Neiman' windows airs tonight, in 4 minutes actually. But it reairs a few times:
AIR TIMES:
• December 04, 2005 9:00 PM ET/PT
• December 05, 2005 1:00 AM ET/PT
• December 11, 2005 5:00 PM ET/PT
• December 24, 2005 11:00 PM ET/PT
• December 25, 2005 3:00 AM ET/PT
• December 25, 2005 12:00 PM ET/PT

[elmstreetdallas]

They're getting started super-early this year! I took these shots yesterday morning (Sunday, Sept. 24). Wow, it's still over 5 weeks until Halloween and over 8 weeks until Thanksgiving.

Nothing like a 3-month-long holiday season....

Happy holidays everyone!

[Boredkid]

....

[CityLove]

I noticed that as well. Seems awfully early to me. I'd like to enjoy a little bit of the fall before I start thinking about Christmas/The Holidays.

[Agnus Dei]

(somehow I missed these last posts until now) --That is extremely early to put stuff up.
Is any info out on the date of the unveiling for this year? I checked the website but it seems to be last year's info, still.

[Milkman Dan]

It was 95 degrees last week and today we are putting up wreaths? This is not Jeddah.

[effulgent]

Have any of you heard the mnew album by "Weird Al" Yankovic called "Straight Outta Lynwood"? He's got a new song called "I'll Sue Ya" and one of the lines is:


I sued Neiman Marcus
'Cause they put up their Christmas decorations
Way out of season

[cowboyeagle05]

They should just leave them up all year that way the city councils do not have to make ordinances against Homeowners leaving theirs up all year. Neiman Marcus does it so it must now be High Fashion.

A couple of years ago Garland was making a ordinace against the practice of leaving up christmas lights all year. What was funny was that critics accused the city of doing the same thing in Downtown Garland. The council then asked staff to explain while able to do such a thing. The downtown lights are rated for all weather outdoor year long abuse and most consumer light strings from Walmart are not. That was a entertaining meeting to watch for me anyway!

[Haretip]

My holiday season does not start until after Thanksgiving. Regardless of how many artificial trees and plastic "baby Jesus in a manger" that WalMart puts out in their lawn and garden section.

[Agnus Dei]

FYI. http://www.downtowndallas.org/current.htm#citylights

DOWNTOWNDALLAS AND NEIMAN MARCUS ANNOUNCE CITY LIGHTS!

Neiman Marcus and DOWNTOWNDALLAS s are thrilled to host another exciting year of City Lights, November 17, 2006! Join us beginning at 6:30 p.m. for this street-wide extravaganza and kick off the holidays Downtown, in the heart of Dallas.

The grand spectacle of the legendary lighting of Neiman Marcus Downtown will extend throughout the heart of Downtown in the Main Street District, from Ervay to Field. Retailers and restaurants throughout the district will creatively light their storefronts, keep their doors open and invite all of Dallas to celebrate the season. In addition, the Downtown holiday tree will be lit at Pegasus Plaza by special musical guests, Trout Fishing in America!

Throughout the evening attendees will be encouraged to shop with promenades led by street performers, and will enjoy extended holiday hours and in-store promotions at each participating retail and restaurant location. At 7 pm, Neiman Marcus Downtown will light the store and unveil the Neiman Marcus Holiday Windows and one-of-a-kind Holiday Tree, the ideas of which have been in secret vaults for months. A special visitor from the North Pole will also drop in and most certainly steal the show.

Schedule of Events for City Lights:

6:30 p.m.: Activities on the streets surrounding Neiman Marcus with music and refreshments; carriage rides along Main Street; entertainment by face painters, street performers and much more!

7:00 p.m.: Lighting of Neiman Marcus Downtown by Mayor Laura Miller; unveiling of the Neiman Marcus Holiday Tree and Windows; arrival of a special visitor from the North Pole; promenade down Main Street led by the Hardin Simmons Cowboy Band!

7:30 p.m.: The lighting of the official Downtown Holiday Tree at Pegasus Plaza, 1 block west of Neiman Marcus at the corner of Main and Akard; performance by Trout Fishing in America!

ALL NIGHT: Special activities and discounts at participating retail and restaurant locations. Stay tuned to www.downtowndallas.org for details...

Sponsorships are still available! Click here for a sponsorship package or call 214-744-1270 for more information on how your company can get involved!

Special thanks to current sponsors (as of October 23, 2006):
The Dallas Morning News, WFAA-TV Channel 8, Mix 102.9 (official radio partner), Forest City Residential, Mosaic Towers, Third Rail Lofts and The Metropolitan

[dfwcre8tive]

The windows of Neiman Marcus say this year's lighting is on Friday, November 14th. Has anything been announced?

[DallasMan]

Yes, thats correct. Nov. 14th was in the DowntownDallas newsletter for City Lights 2008.

[ancientshoes]

Ugh....I came here expecting them to announce the City Lights development, not the City Lights holiday event :(

[F4shionablecHa0s]

Anyone else find the name DOWNTOWNDALLAS irritating?

[cowboyeagle05]

Anyone else find the name DOWNTOWNDALLAS irritating?
Do you mean their branding in ALL CAPS and oneword

[DallasMan]

Ok, gotta say, this event this year was a little "eh." Santa's entry was by zip-cord and was lame. The speakers were not sufficient, so we couldn't hear what the people were saying. I think they need to re-orient the event more to Main or Commerce so there is more room for the crowd. Speaking of which, good turnout.

[cowboyeagle05]

Well I was working at Opening Bell while the event was going on but I went after the main events but the Neiman Marcus Stage is always crowded cause its built to focus on the Window unveiling which does not leave much room at all for people after you have a stage and equipment. The Pegasus Plaza stage is kinda crowded but soon when Main Street Gardens opens within the next few years the stage will be plenty big enough. Pegasus Plaza was designed for the limited crowds that were using Downtown at the time but since then Downtown's population and attraction has significantly increased the regular numbers of users.

It will be interesting to see how the event changes when Main Street Gardens does open cause that area currently sees no pedestrian traffic after dark besides some passing through residents. They might end up with a large stage at Main Street Gardens and smaller community stage at Pegasus Plaza extending the size of event further down Main Street.

By the way Opening Bell sadly did not get listed on the Holiday City Lights promotional materials as something open late that night nor did they ask if we wanted to provide coffee to attendees. The event snuck up on us so we tried to contact Downtown Dallas on Wednesday at the last minute about working with them but they did not get back to us. Luckily we were already going to be open till midnight since we had a excellent band playing that night.

I am working with the owner to make sure we participate in many of these events as possible in the future cause we love Downtown too! Friday night it was cold out and a nice warm cup of coffee would have made many people's night. I was just surprised they didn't call the owner in advance about participating.

[cowboyeagle05]

iPhone Pictures from my Flickr Feed: http://flickr.com/photos/williamaddington

I suggest if you can come downtown and see all the windows not just the ones I badly took a picture of with my iPhone. Neiman Marcus had kids of the Scottish Rite Hospital design their own fantasy Christmas trees and Neiman Marcus created about seven of the Christmas Trees including the big tree which is a gorgeous green environmental tree pictured below. All the trees are up for silent auction with money going to the Scottish Rite Hospital.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/3030528521_227e98c353.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/3030871405_94de4a39b1.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/3030872423_3ceccfafd4.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3287/3031712688_34e079daf5.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3042/3030875921_b44d7c5321.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/3030876851_c0e98fed1d.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/3031722412_32253e58c8.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3030887425_723a086569.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3048/3031728830_cbbc9688dc.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/3031730030_33be6f1319.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3030896055_c63920c7ec.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3141/3030910217_e775b055ed.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/3031749696_a30bef1bdb.jpg http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3227/3031751588_5aea94da5f.jpg

[DallasMan]

^^What a shame about not being able to work with DD on this for Opening Bell! Actually, my friends got there early and tried to go get a cup of coffee at starbucks in the Magnolia at 6:30 pm, and it was closed! You would think that this would have been a night for them to stay open later. By the time we got there, my other friend suggested they go to Opening Bell, but by then, it was time for the lighting to take place.

There's always next year...

[cowboyeagle05]

^^What a shame about not being able to work with DD on this for Opening Bell! Actually, my friends got there early and tried to go get a cup of coffee at starbucks in the Magnolia at 6:30 pm, and it was closed! You would think that this would have been a night for them to stay open later. By the time we got there, my other friend suggested they go to Opening Bell, but by then, it was time for the lighting to take place.

There's always next year...

That's what we are working on making sure people always have in the back of their minds that we are open late and letting them know we have more than just coffee. Unlike Starbucks we serve Beer, Imports beer, Wine, Coffee, Various Tea's, Sandwiches, and we are always looking at adding new things to the menu.

[mdg109]

The downtown starbucks is ridiculous.

[dfwcre8tive]

Setting up for this year's CityLights (stretching from Main Street Garden to AT&T Plaza)

870

[tamtagon]

^I'll be very interested to get your take on the quality of life differences of your new place!

[dfwcre8tive]

^I'll be very interested to get your take on the quality of life differences of your new place!

I'll miss the views, but not the noise. 5 years ago the east end of downtown was dead/silent, and now it's in the center of activity with more on the way (great for downtown, bad for residents with single-paned windows). Living just off the activity and walking a few blocks will be a nice change. Of course, the view down Main Street during the holidays has always been magical with Neiman Marcus twinkling in the distance.

[lakewoodhobo]

Lots of balls! The second one from the front is hanging from the Praetorian and 1604 Main, which is an active construction zone. Pretty cool that Balfour and the Joule are cooperating and participating. Looks like each one is going to be illuminated by color LED spotlights from each direction.

http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu13/jesteban78/photo-1.jpg
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu13/jesteban78/photo8.jpg

[Rangers100]

Some 2011 CityLights pics (poor camera phone quality but enough to give an idea of what the scene looked like).

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/6797/20111119184957.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1285/20111119190344m.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9079/20111119190521.jpg
http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/7177/20111119190728.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/4553/20111119191156.jpg
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/8623/20111119192216.jpg
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/821/20111119194018.jpg
http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/9601/20111119194036.jpg
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/4010/20111119195734.jpg
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/5020/20111119195813.jpg

[msutton]

^ I was there! Cool fireworks show -- lame speeches leading up to it -- and (while I loved it) I still don't understand why Santa needs to shoot fire out of his ass! And I was really amused to see Santa gain about 150 pounds once he had landed.

Very cool to see so many people there, though -- for those who have been before, how did it compare (the show itself and attendance) from your point of view?

[dfwcre8tive]

Great weather and huge crowd. Main Street Garden was a great location to hold the main event, having a lot more room to spread out all of the activities. A lot of time went into the fireworks and decorations and they put on a good show. I like the lights on the Municipal Building; all they need is an ice rink on the lawn for the winter.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/310316_554506039756_146501028_31237513_1213767552_ n.jpg

[jbarn]

Great weather and huge crowd. Main Street Garden was a great location to hold the main event, having a lot more room to spread out all of the activities. A lot of time went into the fireworks and decorations and they put on a good show. I like the lights on the Municipal Building; all they need is an ice rink on the lawn for the winter.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/310316_554506039756_146501028_31237513_1213767552_ n.jpg

An ice skating rink at Main Street Garden is a great idea, would be a great draw to get people down there all winter. I think most large cities have temporary ice skating rinks during the winter, not sure why we don't.

[mjblazin]

Doesn't Plaza of the Americas already have an indoor one 3 blocks away? Dallas weather can go from 60 to 30 to 60 in one day. Likely seen as not worth the engineering effort given other venue is so close.

[Mena]

Doesn't Plaza of the Americas already have an indoor one 3 blocks away? Dallas weather can go from 60 to 30 to 60 in one day. Likely seen as not worth the engineering effort given other venue is so close.I take my girls there quite often (Plaza of the Americas). I really wish they'd step it up and purchase new skates, or at the absolute least, purchase laces. Time and time again, I'm forced to rig them in order for use. PITA!!!

It would still be nice to have an outdoor rink. Completely different vibe.

[cowboyeagle05]

Doesn't Plaza of the Americas already have an indoor one 3 blocks away? Dallas weather can go from 60 to 30 to 60 in one day. Likely seen as not worth the engineering effort given other venue is so close.

Frisco has installed one at their Downtown development for the entire winter season. It is one designed to work in our type of inconsistent freezing temperature weather so I think the engineering is not the issue. What might be the bigger issue is residents use the park weekly for walking dogs and playing sports like the regularly scheduled YMCA kickball games. One game in fact was being played when I was walking around Downtown Thursday night they were attempting to play while the Christmas tree was finishing its installation. A ice rink in the middle would kill the grass for one and second it would turn the park mainly into a tourist/visitor attraction. We have to decide if we are in the habit of building neighborhood parks or regional attractions. Install an Ice rink in front of the Omni they have plenty of room.

[barrycb]

Ranger100, you could've warned me that I would be in one of your pics...:eek:

[gshelton91]

It was a great show... I can't belive how many people came in... I wish they would have had food trucks all up and down Main Street with tables and chairs... and should have been selling some beer/wine... but still a good show.

One thing--- the folks i went with wanted to beat the crowd we had a 2 year old that was about to have a melt down-- so i did not get to see what happend at the AT&T plaza... was it cool?

[cowboyeagle05]

It was a great show... I can't belive how many people came in... I wish they would have had food trucks all up and down Main Street with tables and chairs... and should have been selling some beer/wine... but still a good show.

One thing--- the folks i went with wanted to beat the crowd we had a 2 year old that was about to have a melt down-- so i did not get to see what happend at the AT&T plaza... was it cool?

No the lights at AT&T plaza were just a few strips of leds strapped to the building and new age music played with the lights changing color based on the music. They did say that AT&T plans to add something every year so I think they knew their Light Show Spectacular was less than spectacular. I think its just not going to be that good until the Joule opens their Commerce side operations after construction finishes. The Joule will be adding retail space on the Commerce side so hopefully by next year they will have more lights and things to see and do. This section of Commerce is kinda spotty and dark because of those old buildings have been in disrepair for so long. It was a beginning for AT&T nonetheless they are planning to expand their part of the event each year but this year they appeared to run out of time or money allocated to their Light Show Spectacular.

I imagine if something went into the retail space in the CityPark Neimans Garage that would help too.

[Rangers100]

Ranger100, you could've warned me that I would be in one of your pics...:eek:

Sorry about that, B. I'll have to remind you to duck next time. :-)

[Rangers100]

http://vimeo.com/33912574

[sterling]

It thrills me to see this, especially Main Street Gardens. Such a great answer to the no-brainer "Why do we need parks downtown?" and "the homeless will ruin it for everybody else".