John Crawford

This holiday season, we certainly have much to celebrate here in Big D. If you didn’t make it to City Lights Opening Night Nov. 17, you missed a fantastic family event. More than 50,000 people were in attendance, and the evening was filled with “oohs and ash” as crowds witnessed an arrival from Santa reminiscent of the recent Space Jump, a “holiday light show”, which included the lighting of downtown’s 65-foot-tall holiday tree at Main Street Garden, fireworks, and the one-of-a-kind light installation along Main Street.

City Lights debuted the Neiman Marcus Legacy Holiday Collection, the Car Tree at Pegasus Plaza, and the Holiday Butterflies at Belo Garden. The kiddos also got the first chance to experience the Neiman Marcus Crawl Tubes as part of their window displays, where little ones can physically enter a journey of fantasy and wonder that only Neiman Marcus can provide.

City Lights doesn’t end with opening night, though. Downtown Dallas Inc., the City of Dallas, and partners offer up an entire season of City Lights events for your holiday enjoyment and entertainment. This coming Friday, we debut the wheelBORROW, downtown’s “(un)parked library cart” during the Pegasus Holiday Market. We encourage you to visit the wheelBORROW; take a book, leave a book, or just hang out and read your favorite book at Pegasus Plaza while finding unique gifts for those on your “nice” list.

All of the decorative elements of City Lights are on display through December. Not to mention the many downtown buildings that are lit bright and beautiful for the season; so grab your camera and head downtown to capture all things City Lights this month. These events, along with the hundreds more throughout the year showcase the vibrancy and energy of downtown.

There are many more events coming up this month like photos with Santa and movie night, so be sure to visit the City Lights website for a full calendar of events and parking information.

We hope you enjoy your holidays downtown!

John F. Crawford is president and CEO of Downtown Dallas Inc. Contact him at crawford@downtowndallas.org.