Snow show: 'Downtown Lights Up!' draws a crowd
By Kirsten Ballard And Ethan Smith
Published in News on December 3, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jackson Martinez, 8, throws a snowball during a snowball fight at the Downtown Lights Up! event held along Center Street Tuesday night. Snow was hauled in for the event.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Samantha Cesareo holds her children Evan, 4, and Grant, 1, while they reach for artificial snowflakes falling from the sky.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Nichole Peedin holds her son, Corbyn, 2, who was wearing a festive Rudolph hat as he waited for the tree to be lit at Downtown Lights Up! Tuesday night.
Carson Pratt only wanted one thing for Christmas -- snow.
The boy got his wish early Tuesday evening when downtown Goldsboro was transformed into a winter wonderland for the annual Downtown Lights Up! event hosted by the Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp.
Snow was packed tight along the center median in front of City Hall and nearly 1,000 people came out to play in the snow, see Santa and the Grinch, listen to a varied lineup of performers and witness everything from the water tower to the downtown trees light up when Mayor Al King flipped the switch.
A few snowball fights even broke out.
"It's harder than real snow," said Rico Martinez, 10, son of Public Works director Jose Martinez.
DGDC promotions coordinator Erin Acree said she was worried the turnout might be sparse after rain forced the organization to reschedule the event.
"I was worried people might not come since we had to reschedule it due to the weather last week, because a lot of people were disappointed that we had to reschedule," she said. "But I'm absolutely thrilled with the turnout. The kids are eating it up, and the weather is perfect."
Kierra Vaughn, 6, came dressed for the occasion.
Much like downtown, she, too, transformed Tuesday.
After a few minutes in the face painting booth, icicles and glitter covered her cheeks.
Before she sat down, she was Kierra.
But when she stepped back onto Center Street, she was Elsa, the ice queen from Disney's "Frozen."
Face painting was only part of the fun.
Carriage rides, balloon animals and ornament making stations were also available.
And when the mayor began the countdown -- when he, a week later than scheduled, made the lights, simultaneously, flicker on -- the crowd erupted with a cheer.
Then, the Boys and Girls Club "Drumming up Character" drumline cracked their drumsticks across snare and bass drums to entertain those who turned out.
Following the drumline, Center Stage Theatre performed an excerpt of "A Christmas Carol" before StageStruck performed its own selection of songs.
To cap off the night's entertainment, 2014 Miss Goldsboro and Miss Greater Sampson County Emily Tucker sang to the crowd, wishing them a happy holiday season before handing the microphone to The Hitmen A Capella group.
"This has been right in line with previous years when it didn't have to be rescheduled, and I'm very happy with how it's gone," Ms. Acree said.