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BRIGHT CHRISTMAS
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Jan Billock sits with her children, 4-year-old Hayden, left, and 5-year-old Dylan at the Merry Bright Nights event at Fellows Riverside Gardens in Mill Creek Park.
Youngstown
Children walked throughout the Davis Center of Fellows Riverside Gardens on Sunday in search of oddly placed items hidden throughout the building’s two stories and its garden.
There were the two flamingoes in the whimsical Funky Forest and the top hat set atop a Christmas tree.
But the scavenger hunt was only part of the Merry Bright Nights, a winter wonderland of lights and ornaments in Mill Creek Park on the city’s West Side.
The event is part of the 2011 Winter Celebration, which runs 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Dec. 31. The celebration is closed only on Mondays through the month, with the exception of Dec. 26.
Merry Bright Nights runs once more next Sunday, allowing families to enjoy cookies, cocoa and The Reds Tuba Quartet.
As the Youngstown State University quartet played, their instruments sent out a barrage of 33 different Christmas tunes throughout the lower level lobby.
Listening to them play was Jan Billock and her children, 4-year-old Hayden and 5-year-old Dylan. The family came to the gardens once before during Halloween.
Despite chowing down on the free cookies and slowly sipping the hot cocoa, their favorite part of the evening was the outdoor display of lights.
Along the garden, luminaria and electric lights created a path for patrons to follow. Along the way, lights were strung around bushes, benches and the large pavilion in the back where Pam and Rick Alabed watched their two young children, Alexa and Amir, dance below a disco ball.
But the indoors also had its own attractions, mainly the 50 ornately decorated Christmas trees.
Each tree represented and was decorated by local non-profit organizations.
Sisters Pauline Dalpe and Mary Ann Coz from The Ursuline Sisters stood by their organization’s tree, passing out informational pamphlets.
But it was the Mahoning Valley Rose Society’s tree that caught the attention of 21-year-old Johanna Hernandez from Youngstown.
She said she was moving into her apartment next week and looked to decorate her tree just like the organization did.
“I love candy,” she said while standing next to her 8-year-old niece Sheila Crafter, also from Youngstown. The tree had suckers hanging from its branches and a pink ribbon flowing from the top of the tree to the bottom.
“And pink is my favorite color,” Hernandez said. “I would have never thought to do that.”
The community involvement is essential to the event, said its organizer Keith Kaiser, the horticulture director for Mill Creek MetroParks.
Last Sunday, he said more than 350 people showed up and traditionally, close to 1,000 show up on the second Sunday.
“We’re in the city,” he said. “It’s good to have a Christmas event right here.”