Downtown Lafayette has a little more holiday cheer tonight, as the city's Merry & Bright holiday event kicked off for the 2020 season.
"It was really fun last year, I knew my daughter would enjoy the big lit ball, the decorations" Jody Leblanc said as he and his daughter danced outside of Parc International.
Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble performed in a family-friendly concert in Parc International, which was decked out in decorations. Only this year, the pandemic forced the concert to go virtual, not allowing people, including Leblanc, inside.
"I think that's a perfect example. It just reminded me oh yeah this is the world we live in. Oh well. It does say we can come back during the week, so that's fine," Leblanc said.
"It's difficult, a big part of downtown Lafayette is the ability to gather and be together as a community. We are missing the community tonight. We hope we can be together again soon, but we still wanted to support local musicians," CEO of Downtown Development Authority and Downtown Unlimited, Anita Begnaud explained.
The Parc is decorated as the "North Pole of Downtown," with lights, giant ornaments, a grove of living Christmas trees, and a 24-foot Christmas tree. Friday's concert also featured the official lighting of the Lafayette Christmas tree.
Merry & Bright Christmas is a full season of holiday events and installations sponsored by Downtown Lafayette. It includes a Christmas tree decorating contest, artist-curated window displays, a holiday market, and much more.
"The park will be open to the public, we just couldn't all be together for a live show tonight," Begnaud said.
Find out more about this year's Merry & Bright events here.
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