The North Pole is migrating Friday to downtown Baton Rouge for the winter where residents can expect to see some new stocking stuffers at the annual Festival of Lights.
At the event hosted by the Downtown Development District, residents will have the opportunity to be transported to a winter wonderland of Christmas festivities, some old and some new.
The Festival of Lights will run from 4-9 p.m. at North Boulevard Town Square and will feature live bands, Christmas movie screenings and more.
This year, the event will feature two new traditions said Gabriel Vicknair, assistant executive director of the Downtown Development District.
“Normally, we have a snow village with real snow. Well, this year we’ve done a different take and decided to offer snow sledding down the hill in Repentance Park,” Vicknair said.
Repentance Park, located between Baton Rouge City Hall and The Louisiana Art and Science Museum, will transform into a giant snow mound, where people of all ages can grab a free sled, provided by the Downtown Development District, and slide down six tons of real snow.
“We will also have a street theater with actors that will engage the crowd and get them involved to increase the Christmas spirit at the event,” Vicknair said. “Once the Christmas spirit gets to a certain level at the festival, there will be a surprise.”
Additionally, the Festival of Lights will host Santa’s Gift Shop at the Shaw Center Plaza, which is coordinated by the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge and gives individuals the opportunity to shop for handmade gifts created by artists from the Baton Rouge Arts Market and other local artisans.
“We encourage the community to come on out; there’s plenty of music and food and fun and Christmas,” Vicknair said.

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Lauren Duhon

The annual christmas tree sale benefits the Society of American Foresters student chapter at LSU