Dec. 4, 2013 By Christian Murray
The illuminated snowflakes that line the northern portion of Vernon Boulevard were officially lit last night in a holiday lighting ceremony.
The event was held at LICBar, where attendees were treated to hot chocolate and cookies.
The snowflakes, which extend along Vernon Boulevard from 46th Road to 44th Drive, were paid for through a grant from Jet Blue and funding from Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer’s office.
Van Bramer said the lights are uplifting and are great for small businesses, since they attract people to the Boulevard.
The children from PS 78 kicked off the ceremony by singing a number of popular Christmas tunes, such as Jingle Bells and Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer. The children were led by Gianna Cerbone-Teoli, owner of Manducatis Rustica.
The lights were then “officially” lit by Sheila Lewandowski, the executive director of the The Chocolate Factory, and Dana Frankel of the LIC Partnership.
The event was followed by Christmas stories at LICBar’s carriage house and music performed by local jazz group, The Charlie Brown Christmas Trio.
2 Comments
North of 47th Ave is what was included and celebrated on December 3rd. Thanks to multiple community stakeholder contributions and efforts, a majority of Vernon Boulevard and Center Boulevard in LIC have holiday lights this season.
to set yhe recirds straight — the hulidat lights ar 46th ave do not uxtend to 50th ave. the lights from Bordon Ave to 47th ave are provided by the Huntera Point Community Dev.Corp. Holiday lights appeared for
the first time ever on VernonBlvd 6 years ago thanks to the efforts of Terri Adams President of HPCDC. The funding for those lights and the Christmas tree for Vernon Mall are separate and apart from the celebration reported in this article,. A tree lighting ceremony will take place at Vernon Mall on Dec. 10th.