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A million tiny lights glowed over Omaha's Gene Leahy Mall on Thanksgiving evening as the city began its annual Holiday Lights Festival.
Kym and Jason Bauer and their three children bundled up in coats and hats and went downtown to see the lights go on.
The event is celebrating its 10th anniversary. While the Bauers have viewed the lights in past years sometime during the holiday season, this was their first time at the Thanksgiving lighting ceremony.
“We're usually eating or looking through the sale ads,” Kym Bauer said.
This year, the Omaha family joined thousands of others who gathered under clear skies to witness the lighting. They listened to singers performing Christmas songs as children played with blue glow sticks.
Then came the traditional countdown, led by Mayor Jim Suttle.
Suddenly, all down the mall, dark trees lit up. The park's lagoon mirrored the pretty display. And people began to stroll along paths to take in the show.
“I thought it was only going to be these few trees,” said Emily Bauer, 8, pointing toward the west end of the Leahy Mall near 14th and Douglas Streets.
Instead, the glowing trees stretched for blocks to the east. Emily and the rest of her family, including Hayden, 6, and Katelyn, 4, headed off to explore.
Thursday's lighting ceremony launched the Holiday Lights Festival, which runs into early January.
Festival manager Vic Gutman estimated the crowd at 25,000 to 30,000 people. He said that was “pretty typical for a nice-weather Thanksgiving.”
It was about 40 degrees when the lights went on.
“It's great,” Kym Bauer said of the weather.
Besides seeing the lights, people packed into a free holiday concert at the nearby Holland Performing Arts Center and spilled into the Old Market to shop or dine.
They also were encouraged to contribute money and nonperishable food items to the Food Bank for the Heartland.
Future festival activities include ice skating shows, musical performances and a fireworks extravaganza on New Year's Eve.
Gutman said Thursday's crowd showed that Omahans enjoy the annual event.
“It's become a real Thanksgiving tradition,” he said.
Contact the writer:
444-1114, paul.goodsell@owh.com
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