By Julia Lucey
After a challenging year with many months of uncertainty, one thing will without a doubt feel familiar this holiday season: holiday lights will illuminate Greenwich Avenue once again.
Many Greenwich residents have known and enjoyed the festive lights along Greenwich Ave, a practice originally organized by the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. Until 2014, the Chamber of Commerce made the decorations possible with help from private contributions, but the project eventually became too expensive to maintain. In 2015, following a dark year on the Avenue, Greenwich Green & Clean created Light Up Greenwich, an organization made up of local businesses, individuals, and community members, in a successful but short-lived effort to bring the lights back.
In 2018, Greenwich Green & Clean stepped away from this responsibility, shifting their focus to other projects. At that time Greenwich resident Alyssa Keleshian took on the task of raising enough money to fund the beloved holiday lights, collecting the necessary funds in just a week from local businesses. Unfortunately, fundraising was not as successful in 2019, leaving the Avenue once again without its beloved lights.
While the lack of lights last year came as a disappointment to many, this winter we can once again expect the holiday spirit on Greenwich Avenue. Several Greenwich residents have taken charge of the event, dubbed “Let There Be Lights,” to organize funds in order to light up the Avenue for the 2020 holiday season, raising money from Greenwich residents and businesses.
Leading the effort now is Sebastian Dostmann of Sebass Events & Entertainment. “The holiday season has always been about enjoying one another and bringing our community together with celebrations before the year comes to a close,” Dostmann commented. “It feels incredible to take part in this yearly tradition and be a part of bringing a sense of togetherness this holiday season, especially when we need it the most. We hope our community enjoys the Let There Be Lights season and feels the joy and brightness we felt when organizing and preparing for this season.”
In addition to being part of a longstanding and meaningful tradition, the holiday lights are a beautiful display for the customers of dozens of local businesses on the Avenue. “Lighting our downtown area trees during the holiday season is an annual tradition that brings joy to our residents while creating a festive atmosphere that encourages shoppers and diners to come out and support our businesses,” says Keleshian, a lifelong resident and business owner. “The downtown lights will further create an environment that welcomes residents to come out, dine, shop or simply stroll,” she adds.
Another instrumental figure in this process has been Rick Kral, owner of the Greenwich Water Club, returning this year with his support for the project. Kral emphasized the community-based nature of this project — it isn’t supported by the Town of Greenwich. Rather, it relies on donations from Greenwich businesses and residents to bring it all together. After a season without the Avenue’s holiday lights, Kral hopes 2019 be registered in the history books as the last year in the dark. Dostmann similarly pointed out the community support that makes the event possible: “Fundraising is a huge part of making this event come to life and without our donors or partners we wouldn’t be able to make it happen. We welcome any donation big or small and thank everyone for their involvement in bringing the lights back to this community.”
The event’s website, gwchavenue.com, recently went live to accept donations and partnerships from individuals and businesses in town. The site offers photos of the illuminated Avenue in years past and makes a tax deductible donation easy. Sponsorships of different levels are listed online and offer different benefits, including logo placements on the Greenwich Avenue banner and on the event website.
The lights’ return to the Avenue is sure to bring with it a sense of community and normalcy. “This winter season will be more vital than ever to our downtown,” Keleshian commented. “We wanted to be sure our downtown — our wonderful community — created a spirit of comfort and joy. Now more than ever, people seek the traditions that remind them of our togetherness.”
