In one of Buffalo's most quaint neighborhoods, the Cottage District Association (CDA) began a Festival of Lights last year.
This year, it has spilled over into neighboring districts, with the Fargo Estate Neighborhood Association (FENA), the Kleinhans Community Association (KCA), the Columbus Park Association and the Fargo 300 joining in.
CDA Chair Valerie Ingold says, "The area of the Festival of Lights has grown enormously in only two years. Our goal is to make this an attraction like the Garden Walk in Buffalo. We're already drawing people from surrounding neighborhoods in the city, and people from the suburbs to see how festive our neighborhoods are in the holiday season!"
A trip through their website shows last year's glowing homes, where the only thing missing is the sound of snow crunching underfoot while each image pops up, one more beautiful than the next.
Started on November 25th this year, the light show will run through January 6th. And there's a contest too. "We have non partisan judges who will be walking or driving our neighborhoods, looking for houses that really stand out," Ingold says. "The time of judging will be between the week of Christmas and New Years, and we'll be passing out prizes the weekend after New Years."
Ingold says the celebrity judges for this years event will include John Borsa of Channel 7, and Harvey Garrett
of the West Side Community Collaborative. A $300 prize will help defray the cost of decorations for the lucky winner, and
there will be other prizes awarded too.
Sponsors include Dibble True Value Hardware, Connell Boswell (State Farm Insurance), Karpeles Library Manuscript Museum, Heart of the City Neighborhoods, D'Youville College Campus Ministry, Chuck Cardone Barber Shop, Holy Angles Church, Morning Glory, Delish, Elmwood Village Fabrics, West Side Community Services, Avalon Scarves, Sweetnes_7 Café, ING Photography, Wegmans and West Side NHS, Amory Tavern, Ashland Pest Control, Boomerangs Restaurant, Buffalo State College, Chefs Restaurant, Faces of Buffalo- Aty Mosaics, Grassroots Gardens, In Memory of Miguilla Schaus, Joe Tomasulo, BERC Business Specialist, Louie's Charcoal Hot Dogs, Marcos Ristorante, New Buffalo Graphics, Nick Bonifacio, Santa Maria Towers, Niagara Street Tops Market, Vilardo Printing.
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16th st is looking nice as always. It was nice driving around some of the streets and noticing some of these houses that definitely stand alone. Some streets there may be 1 or 2 houses that have so many lights that it just blows your mind. Very impressive.