10th Holiday Lights Festival
again transforms downtown Milwaukee

DOWNTOWN Milwaukee's nationally recognized Holiday Lights Festival again this season illuminates the streets and parks of the city through Jan. 4.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the festival draws visitors and Milwaukeeans downtown to view the thousands of lights, dozens of animated displays, sparkling rooflines, brilliant wreaths and a stretch of Moravian stars along Wisconsin Avenue that set the city aglow.

"The Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival has made Milwaukee a premier holiday destination," said Beth Nicols, executive director of Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District #21. "It's a great opportunity to showcase the many amenities and activities we have here in Milwaukee - especially during the holiday season.

"From performing arts and sporting events to concerts and exhibitions, not to mention unique retail destinations and restaurants, downtown Milwaukee is a great place to get in the spirit of things," said Nicols.

For all the details on holiday happenings, see KEY Milwaukee's listings and the Holiday Activity Guide in this issue, or visit KeyMilwaukee.com.

Narrated tours of all the lights, sights and sounds are available on the Jingle Bus, starting this year from the Warming House in the Plankinton Arcade of The Shops of Grand Avenue, 161 W. Wisconsin Ave. For $1 per person, this Coach USA bus takes visitors on a 40-minute tour throughout downtown. On board is a friendly Public Service Ambassador to describes all the sights.

The Jingle Bus operates from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, beginning and ending at the Plankinton Arcade of The Shops of Grand Avenue. The last Jingle Bus departs at approximately 8:20 p.m.

In the Warming House, hot cocoa, coffee and cookies are served to awaiting Jingle Bus riders by Stone Creek Coffee and coloring books and crayons are distributed to little ones. Discounted parking is available at the attached Shops of Grand Avenue parking structure for $2 with a Jingle Bus validation. (The Jingle Bus will not operate Christmas Day or New Year's Day.)

Highlighting the Holiday Lights Festival are three downtown parks and Wisconsin Avenue, which beam with a kaleidoscope of color and display their own themes:

• Cathedral Square Park, N. Jefferson and E. Wells Streets, is transformed into "Community Spirit Park" as 50 metro Milwaukee schools adorn fresh evergreens with handmade ornaments. The energy efficient, LED-lit trees surround a 50-foot tree of ever-changing red, blue and green lights.
  
  
• "Gingerbread Dreams" at Pere Marquette Park, W. State and Old World 3rd Streets, features candy canes, gumdrops and Big Red Teddy. The extravaganza includes a giant gingerbread man, tumbling gingerbread men, giant gingerbread house, and a gingerbread family. All of this fun is overseen by Santa and his reindeer.
  
  
• With "Frosty Fun" at Zeidler Union Square, W. Michigan between 3rd and 4th Streets, catch animated snowmen skiing, skating and snowboarding. Also part of the action are a snowboy ice fishing, snowmen juggling and a snowman kicking a field goal.
  
  
• Wisconsin Avenue, downtown Milwaukee's grandest stretch, shines brightly with double wreaths adorned in blue and white LED lights on the avenue's harp lamps, and six-foot Moravian stars suspended above each intersection.

For the eighth year in a row, the Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival also has preserved an historic piece of Milwaukee with a timeless, limited edition ornament of a downtown Milwaukee icon. The 2008 edition features the Milwaukee County Historical Society.

For more information on the Milwaukee Holiday Lights Festival, visit MilwaukeeHolidayLights.com or call 414-220-4700, ext. 30.