Holiday Lights festival brings seasonal spirit to Crawford Park
December 15, 2022 at 2:47 a.m.
With the temperature dipping to nearly freezing and the wind gusting, Joanna Garcia, 5, warms up with a cup of hot cocoa by a firepit at Crawford Park on Friday, Dec. 9. Behind the Glen Avenue resident, strands of lights line the trees and decorate the lawn for Rye Town’s annual Holiday Lights festival.
Student musicians from Port Chester High School perform holiday music to a crowd of eager listeners behind the Crawford Mansion Community Center. Some of the songs highlighted specific sections of the band—one was played solely by a choir of flutes.
Beacon Lane residents Aliza and Boris Zubov sit with their 2-year-old daughter Juliette as they watch members of the Port Chester High School Band perform holiday tunes.
Fabio Garcia, 11, tries his hand at Jenga, set up on the second floor of the Crawford Mansion Community Center along with several other carnival-style games. The Glen Avenue resident doesn’t make a single mistake as he pulls blocks from the tower.
One-year-old Mika Blech wearily observes her parents as they take photos of her in front of a pair of reindeer lights. The young Arbors resident is bundled up, but still slightly shivers in the frigid evening wind.
Christian Seemer hugs Santa (Charlie Sacco) tightly, mesmerized as he meets the character in person. Mrs. Claus (Town Clerk Hope Vespia) eagerly waits her turn to greet the 7-year-old, while the Rye Neck resident’s mom Tina stands off to the side.
Maya Jimenez, 7, launches herself down a blow-up slide on a bounce house decorated with snowflakes. The Port Chester resident is all smiles as she races the other children navigating the structure.
Zoe Spiegel (left) and Theresa D’Amico of Blanc, a Westchester-based mobile taphouse, serve drinks to cold and eager customers behind the Crawford Mansion Community Center.
Red and green light poles signify the start of the line for the mini train, which carried passengers in a loop around the Crawford Mansion Community Center parking lot.
Penguins, polar bears and a large snowman greet families with young children eager to jump in the bounce houses to which they’re attached.
Members of the Port Chester Sound and Port Chester High School band gather around a fire at Crawford Park, having just finished performing in a myriad of musical acts. They spread seasonal cheer with the holiday songs in their repertoire.
