75 replies to this topic

[Austin55]

GM Financial is the new PoL sponsor. They replace XTO not only as the sponsor but the largest employeer downtown now.

 

http://www.fortworth...7c679c5a36.html

[Doohickie]

From the article:

Fort Worth-based GM Financial

 

Is Fort Worth really the HQ for GM Financial?

[txbornviking]

From the article:

Fort Worth-based GM Financial

 

Is Fort Worth really the HQ for GM Financial?

 

seems so, hmmm

801 Cherry Street, Ste. 3500
Fort Worth, TX 76102

https://www.gmfinanc...ate-office.aspx

[Austin55]

Yep, Burnett Plaza.

[John T Roberts]

Doohickie, I had heard that information somewhere before.

[Doohickie]

Hmm.  We actually have a nationally known corporate entity I wasn't aware of.

[elpingüino]

Formerly AmeriCredit, acquired by GM in 2010. https://www.star-tel...e153538179.html

[renamerusk]

....there were a ton of people downtown.....

 

  One of the complaints coming from Downtown businesses about the parade is that it hurt regular businesses on the Friday after Thanksgiving; this seemed like a ridiculous worry IMO.  With tons of people Downtown, can you judge whether the shops and food places were busy making sales?

[Austin55]

Parade of lights generates a lot of interesting observations, especially regarding parking and getting around. 

 

Transit is packed, especially the trains. 

Sundance Parking garages fill up quickly, but others do not. My assumption is that people don't know where they are and aren't allowed to park, but many folks are familiar with Sundance's garages. 777 Main's garage behind Bass Hall still had several levels open, while it's Main Street garage was nearly empty (probably more to do with location than anything). People were also willing to park very far away and hike a good distance, Vickery Ave was full, I heard Samuels had quite a few cars on it, most of the lots West of Henderson were even pretty filled up. 

 

It's an interesting exercise in downtown's capacity to be flexible.

 

Also, despite the lovely weather, I did not see anyone but myself on a bike.

[JBB]

Just my own anecdote: when we went to the parade a few years ago, we paid to park in a surface lot to the south of Burnett Plaza.  It was just as close to our seats as the Sundance garages and we were able to almost completely avoid traffic.  We arrived 45 minutes before the start of the parade and were sitting in a restaurant on Magnolia for dinner 20 minutes after the parade ended in our location.  

[Dylan]

My TEXRail train into downtown was almost completely full. My assumption is that many people were looking for an alternative to street closures and traffic.

 

Yet, the TRE could only run three trains in each direction instead of a full Saturday schedule like they do on Sundays during the State Fair and Main Street Arts Festival.

 

I'd be real interested in hearing a ridership number for TEXRail on the day of the parade.

[renamerusk]

...Yet, the TRE could only run three trains in each direction instead of a full Saturday schedule like they do on Sundays during the State Fair and Main Street Arts Festival....

 

 Its been a burr in my saddle that FWTA does not increase train service during the FWSS&R.  If DASH coordiates with the both trains, it could be more useful and could elevate awareness of it.

[Austin55]

Anyone catch the Broadcast/streamed version of the parade last night?

[JBB]

I have the broadcast saved on YouTubeTV but we have not watched it yet.

[roverone]

I streamed to the Apple TV while I was doing other things.  I think the most was made off a difficult situation and it was put together in a way that provided a little bit of the sense of anticipation of of a live event.  There were more things than I expected shot in the Jubilee.

[John T Roberts]

I caught the parade live on Channel 21.

[Dylan]

I've attended the Parade of Lights live three times. But, this is an event I feel like should be held after Thanksgiving, not before.

 

Since it was a televised event this year, I figured I would wait until after Thanksgiving to watch it. Now that it's after Thanksgiving, I will watch it sometime soon.

[Dylan]

This year's "Parade of Lights" was more of a music program than a parade. Most of the show was dedicated to pseudo-live music performances, and only small portions of it featured parade entries.

 

That said, I enjoyed the pseudo-live music program I watched. I would like to see it become a yearly holiday tradition in addition to having an actual parade.

[beverlyb]

The Parade of Lights will be live this year. Sunday, November 21st.

 

We still need volunteers, especially ones to escort the float entries through the parade route. I would say we are down about 60%.

 

If you would like to volunteer or if you know anyone that would like to volunteer, the link is: https://www.fortwort...pate/volunteer/

 

Thanks,

 

Beverly

beverly@dfwi.org

Volunteer Manager

Parade of Lights

Main ST Arts Festival

[beverlyb]

Want to get a free t-shirt and a cool Christmas/Holiday hat? The GM Financial Parade of Lights is looking for volunteers!

Sunday November 20th 

 

We need Sign and Banner carriers to walk in the parade and escort the parade entries. 

 

We also need Balloon Wranglers. Wrangling the balloons is fun and challenging. The parade has a couple of spots where the balloons need to be pulled down to get underneath the overhead walkways. 

 

Lastly, we need Parade Marshals. This is more of a security position. 

Parade marshals are assigned one or two blocks to monitor. There is extra training for this position, but nothing extreme.

 

Here is the sign-up link: https://downtownfortworthinitiativesinc.volunteerlocal.com/volunteer/?id=64650

 

If you have questions, you can email me at volunteerinfo@dfwi.org

 

Thanks 

Beverly Burks

Volunteer Manager

Parade of Lights

Main ST. Arts Festival

 

 

[Dylan]

The State Fair of Texas has its own version of the Parade of Lights called the Starlight Parade.

 

IMO, the floats at the Starlight Parade are vastly superior to the floats at the Parade of Lights.

 

They're bigger, more lavish, and they don't have a problem with using flood lights to illuminate objects. So, they place more thought on what's on the float.

 

We just throw Christmas lights on everything.

 

The only thing that's better about the Parade of Lights is the duration. The Starlight Parade only lasts a few minutes.

 

 

 

EDIT: I used to attend the Parade of Lights. But, after seeing the Starlight Parade, I'm not as interested in the Parade of Lights. I'm not going to make an effort to get the day off work.

[JBB]

You're talking about 2 things that are entirely different.  The Parade of LIghts is a once-a-year community-driven holiday event.  The parade at the fair is pre-packaged nightly entertainment and you have to pay to go to the fair to see it.  The list of people using one as an alternative to the other is probably very small.  

[Stadtplan]

I haven't attended the Parade of Lights yet but I was biking along the Trinity over behind TCCD/RadioShack one year during their pre-parade set-up in the Panther Island Parking lots and I was super impressed with the level or organization heading into the event.  I'm not one for crowds if I can help it, but judging by the amount of people coming into and leaving from downtown on the parade night, this seems to be one of the premier events of the year.  If anything, I'm a bit suprised there isn't some additional event-making peripheral to the parade as sort of a seasonal kick-off launching of a Christkindlmarkt with food, merchants and music.  Maybe there's is such a thing happening that I don't know about?  Refresh my memory: why does the Parade happen in November and not December?   

[John T Roberts]

When I was younger, the Christmas Tree Lighting was always held the day after Thanksgiving.  The location was Burnett Park, then General Worth Square, and it was finally moved to Sundance Square on Main Street before the Plaza was constructed.  Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. eventually started the Parade of Lights.  Up until fairly recently, the Parade of Lights and annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony were held on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  When the plaza was at its heyday, the merchants in Downtown and Sundance Square stated that the Parade was hurting their Friday night business, so the events were moved to the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  School was usually out in most districts all week, so that night wasn't a school night, and Sundays usually had lighter crowds for the restaurants in Sundance Square.  The move of the parade and lighting to earlier in November, was an effort to please everyone in Downtown.

[Stadtplan]

When I was younger, the Christmas Tree Lighting was always held the day after Thanksgiving.  The location was Burnett Park, then General Worth Square, and it was finally moved to Sundance Square on Main Street before the Plaza was constructed.  Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. eventually started the Parade of Lights.  Up until fairly recently, the Parade of Lights and annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony were held on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  When the plaza was at its heyday, the merchants in Downtown and Sundance Square stated that the Parade was hurting their Friday night business, so the events were moved to the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  School was usually out in most districts all week, so that night wasn't a school night, and Sundays usually had lighter crowds for the restaurants in Sundance Square.  The move of the parade and lighting to earlier in November, was an effort to please everyone in Downtown.

 

It's a bit anticonsumerism bringing this up, but when we were kids it was totally normal for us to go do things that didn't cost much if anything for admission, parking, seating, tickets, reservations, food, drink, entertainment.  These were simple outings like John described, but had a lot of meaning and enjoyment especially around the holidays.  Things like driving around looking at nice houses, going to see the ice castle, looking at Christmas lights, playing card games and even some friends of our had created these wonderful drive up Halloween and Christmas exhibits at their house with a long rural driveway with lots of trees and just let people drive through and enjoy the festivity. 

 

I try to allow this concept to live on in my life on the regular, like taking Sunday afternoon drives, taking some photos outside, biking on the trails etc.  We went to Bruges with our friends from Brussels and we stopped for a bite to eat at one of the tourist trap restaurants on the square and they really took us for a ride.  I remember our friend (who grew in Belgium) was so mad that day, she said her dad would have never been suckered the way those waiters had gotten us and if you've ever traveled in Europe, you probably know exactly what I mean.  She just told us about how when they were kids, they'd take a trips to the coast and just pack sandwiches and have a day of it only spending a bit of money on gas to get there and back and there. There was this sense of comfort or pleasantry in doing things as a group or as a family (the word in German  that comes to mind is "Gemütlichkeit" described as a "a sense of belonging and well-being springing up..."  The way I translate this in today's American terminology is there is a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment in doing things together that don't necessarily cost a lot of money or paying someone else to recreate an experience for you rather than creating your own experiences.  I'm not against spending some money to go do things fun things but when I read John's comment, it just me thinking about this.

[johnfwd]

This year's Christmas tree lighting event was a joyous occasion.  Attended by several hundred, including Marie Osmond, celebrity singer, Mayor Mattie Parker, and the MC, Debra Ferguson of NBC Channel 5.  I especially enjoyed Osmond's rendition of "Jingle Bells."  Mayor Parker noted at the event that our tree is the largest in the country.