For some, the Festival of Lights this past Friday in Downtown Hartford was an absolute bust. Many visitors walked away from the event feeling disappointed. The festival, a long-standing city tradition customarily held at Constitution Plaza near the city’s riverfront, was expanded to include Bushnell Park this year. Many guests were expecting to be dazzled and left in awe with the new expansion; however, that was not the case. While people were expecting the same sort of stunning lights that are often displayed at Constitution Plaza, the park featured only a medium-sized Christmas tree bathed with colored lights and different colored spotlights and searchlights. Even loyalists to the festival’s previous venue created a Facebook page titled “Return the Hartford Festival of Lights to Constitution Plaza” to express their disdain with the new location.

Despite all the mixed feedback about this year’s opening ceremony of the Festival of Lights, the expansion of the festival has allowed holiday lights to shine and glimmer at Constitution Plaza and Bushnell Park. The plaza still boasts much of its traditional lighting and the sight is amazing to view at night with the lights blinking and twinkling against the backdrop of the city skyline. Organizers do plan to add more lights to Bushnell Park and along the riverfront in hopes of adding more holiday spirit to the city’s renowned park. Another exciting addition to the city’s Festival of Lights is the inclusion of an ice skating rink during the run of the festival. The ice skating rink opens on December 10^th and will through January 6^th, featuring free skating as well as free skate rentals. Making a trip to Downtown Hartford to see the lights and skate in the park will definitely help put you in the holiday spirit!!