A holiday tradition that draws thousands of people to the main streets of Sewickley is quickly approaching.
The borough’s annual Light Up Night celebration is set for 5-9 p.m. Dec 6.
About 10,000 people attended last year’s celebration and organizers are expecting the same attendance this year.
“Our goal is to provide a fun, family-friendly event for the local community,” said Julie Barnes, council vice president and event organizer.
The event committee raised about $80,000 for Light Up Night from nearly 20 sponsors, a $16,000 bump from last year’s $64,000 fundraising effort.
“People seem to want to get more involved because they see how great the event’s been the past couple years,” Barnes said. “A lot of businesses are reaching out to us to sponsor.”
The presenting sponsor is FNB Corp. It chipped in $25,000 and is also funding horse and carriage rides around the Sewickley Village area throughout the holiday season.
Forrest Orthodontics sponsored a visit from Santa at the gazebo.
Esmark sponsored the fireworks, which are scheduled to go off at 8 p.m.
People will not have to wait until the event to see the borough’s holiday lights illuminated — the decorative displays were turned on right before Thanksgiving on Nov. 27.
Barnes said they turned the lights on early last year and received positive feedback from families visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Light Up Night events
The evening’s live entertainment includes Sweetwater Cottage Band, Part-time Cowboys, Madam JoJo’s Band and Dancing Machine, American’s No. 1 tribute to the Jacksons.
Various youth dance groups are also expected to participate.
Ryan Recker from WTAE is expected to serve as an emcee at the main stage along Broad Street.
Quaker Valley Middle School teacher Tom Forrest will emcee the youth stage along Walnut Street.
There will be some characters, such as Buddy the Elf, roaming about. Children can call a Santa hotline from a special phone booth at the borough building. A walk-in snow globe is also expected to be on display at the borough building lawn along Thorn Street. There will be arts and crafts at the nearby Sewickley Public Library. Several food trucks are expected to be on-hand. Ice carvers will demonstrate their craft.
Some of the local churches will host a variety of activities.
“It’s very similar to what we have done for the past three years, because we’ve had really spectacular events the past three years,” Barnes said.
Light Up Night is a ZeroWaste event, meaning there will be trash stations with different bins separating garbage from recyclables and compost.
Safety first
Borough police and firefighters will have several streets blocked off for pedestrian safety.
Beaver Street from Blackburn Road to Straight Street will be closed; Broad Street from Centennial Avenue to Thorn Street will be closed; and Walnut Street from Beaver to Thorn streets will be closed.
The Green Street parking lot will also be closed.
Barnes said event planning with her 10-person committee begins in April and includes emergency responder coordination.
“It’s a team effort,” Barnes said. “We divvy up the roles and responsibilities at the first meeting and everyone knows what do to. We coordinate with police, fire and EMS to make sure that we’re covering all of our bases, and we work with the public works department.
“There are a lot of moving parts. It takes a big team effort, and we got a great team.”
Economic impact
Having thousands of people roaming about sections of the main Sewickley thoroughfares create multiple opportunities for local businesses to showcase their goods and services.
Some have event specials and adjusted hours.
“Sewickley has something for everyone,” said Denise Shirley, president and interim secretary of the Sewickley Chamber of Commerce. “Even if customers don’t purchase items or schedule services during Light Up Night, it highlights Sewickley as a festive and vibrant community for holiday gift giving and future planning.”
Shirley believes the economic impact of the event is likely to linger long after the last visitor has left.
“Many businesses see on average a 60% or more increase of revenue for the day and evening of Light Up Night,” she said. “However, the greater impact is the incremental increase in sales over the following weeks. Many customers and clients from outside of the Sewickley area who attend Light Up Night say they are impressed by the variety of local businesses, so they return for holiday shopping, gift card purchases, dining and scheduling of services. Light Up Night allows businesses to showcase what makes them unique compared to online shopping or malls.”
Posters have been placed along the business district with a QR code that sends people to a map with event activities.
People can still make tax-deductible donations for Light Up Night via Venmo and PayPal.
Links are posted on the front page of the borough website, sewickleyborough.org.