Thousands Gather for Christmas Switch-On

By StAlbansRobin | Monday, November 22, 2010, 19:27

Thousands of St. Albans people gathered in St. Peter's Street on Sunday for the annual Christmas light "switch-on". The annual event, attended by many local families, included a mini fun fair, a performance by the Penny Waterman school of ballet, and a festive market.

The lights were switched on by an Elvis impersonator and other performers at 17.45, 15 minutes after the scheduled time due to a technical hitch.

Festive lighting in St. Albans includes strings of lights down St. Peter's Street, the City Christmas Tree in front of St. Albans Arena, and other displays in various city approach roads, including lights shaped like Christmas trees above the shops in Catherine Street.

Christmas is a very important time for locally owned shops, as well as larger retail chains, who often make a large proportion of their annual takings in the lead up to Christmas. St. Albans is lucky in having, unlike many towns and cities of a similar size, individual shops, restaurants and pubs that not only offer a unique level of service, but also genuinely care about their customers. It's worth trying to shop local this Christmas and the Council, as well as shop keepers, hope the festive atmosphere will both keep shoppers in St. Albans and attract those from further afield.

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Comments

No mention here of the Swan Vesta Social Club. OK I'm biased but you can't beat good all-live music from a local band. It was great that so many people turned out and that, for once, the weather held.
But the organisation was pretty limp for a city as big and prosperous as St Albans. Not just the piped music mentioned above, but the tiny and trashy old stage, the lack of staff and the lack of cordoned areas for the different activities. It was a bunfight! The recent Luton Festival put us to shame. Luton!! They had a huge, professional stage, loads of staff, proper barriers and great music. All in the town centre.
The centre of our city should be a glorious hub of activity for this kind of thing, but it ain't.

By simongrover at 20:57 on 22/11/10
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The fair was great and the whole occasion good fun, but the whole thing was rather spoiled by the dreadful 'music' being played as we waited for the lights to be switched on. It wasn't the delay that annoyed people, even though it was cold, but the awful noise that was being pumped out of the PA system. Why couldn't they have got 'Elvis' to sing a bit more or even played a few festive songs (or frankly, even Take That) rather than the dreadful racket we were subjected to??

The lights are quite nice though.

By loulie1 at 20:06 on 22/11/10
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