Natchitoches Christmas Festival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Natchitoches Christmas Festival (Festival of Lights) is held annually in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The Christmas festival is expanded each year but is centered around the historical district of Natchitoches. The festival is a major tourist attraction for the area, drawing an estimated 100,000 visitors each year. It can be difficult to find a hotels, pushing many visitors into neighboring cities such as Winnfield, Louisiana. Hotel prices can often jump into the hundreds for those who do not reserve ahead of time. Front street, Jefferson, and Second Street are usually the main route of the Christmas Parade. The festival has been held the first Saturday in December since 1927. In 2006, the festival celebrated its 80th year of existence.

The official premiere of the Festival occurs on the first Saturday of December. Events include an early afternoon parade, an arts & crafts show, food booths along the river front selling Louisiana cuisine, including the famous Natchitoches meat pie, live entertainment, and a spectacular evening fireworks show accompanied with music and a laser show. At the end of the fireworks display, the lights along Cane River are switched on - an incredible display of 300,000+ lights and 100+ riverbank set pieces.The lights continue to brighten the Cane River until after New Year's Day.

Country music singer Trini Triggs has been noted to make an appearance in the parade, along with the Budweiser Clydesdales, the Northwestern State University Marching Band, several high school marching bands, dance teams from around Louisiana, the winners of local beauty pageants including Miss Merry Christmas and the Christmas Belles, and, of course, Santa Claus. Schools as far away as Beaumont, Texas have been known to send their marching bands to participate in the parade.

The Natchitoches Christmas Festival has appeared in several movies, including the hit movie Steel Magnolias. The city of Natchitoches was the setting for the movie.

It is also a part of the Holiday Trail of Lights, a Christmas festival held across six Ark-La-Tex cities.