city woes
This Christmas, the celebrated Trail of Lights is turned off... again
Nov 2, 2011 | 12:03 pm
Trail of Lights has announced today that the planned festival for 2011 has been canceled due to lack of sponsorship.
In an official statement released this morning, festival co-producers Amy Vercuysse and Candace Miller communicated that “this year’s community holiday event will no longer include Trail of Lights due to a shortfall in funding.”
Even with plans to charge a nominal admission, projected costs nearing $1 million proved too great as the festival was unable to meet a pre-event cash goal of $250,000, preventing any further movement on the project.
The trail, which was scheduled to start construction today, has been reduced to “Austin HolidayFest” and will be held December 4th -11th. The new festival will hold some of the staples of Trails past: Santa’s House, food and novelty vendors and, most importantly, the City Tree Lighting.
Citing difficult economic conditions, Vercuysse and Miller expressed regret that the Trail would not be coming back after a three year hiatus, but plan to start efforts toward a successful Trail of Lights 2012.
Citing difficult economic conditions, Vercuysse and Miller expressed regret that the Trail would not be coming back after a three year hiatus, but plan to start efforts toward a successful Trail of Lights 2012.
In the meantime, event producers hope that the new Austin HolidayFest will provide a free, family-friendly alternative.
