It’s the holiday season, and our news director Jason gave us reporters one big order this week — go out and find some of the joy in things.
Alejandro Figueroa and I went to Downtown Dayton to enjoy this year’s Jingle Lights holiday light show. We found out, if you look hard enough, there’s some joy to be found in everything.
First, we went to Courthouse Square in downtown Dayton. We got out of the car and watched the light show in silence for a while. It was a normal chilly Tuesday night in December downtown: quiet except for the occasional growl from an RTA bus or overheard conversation from patrons smoking outside the bars.
All of the trees, including the huge Holiday Tree, were lit up and synchronized to the songs that were playing on the radio. But we couldn't hear them so we quickly decided to go back to the car and tune our radio to 97.1 FM (the special Jingle Lights station) to get the full experience.
We drove all around downtown navigating the traffic lights, stop signs and one-ways to experience the show. The synchronized lights are set-up on Main Street between Monument and Fifth, on Third Street between St. Clair and Wilkinson and on Monument Avenue from Patterson to Main.
Driving the whole loop takes a few minutes—about the amount of time it takes to listen to one of the show's songs in its entirety. There was something for everyone: Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus covers, Trans Siberian Orchestra or the Paul McCartney and Wings hit that might be about practicing witchcraft.
Alejandro and I were most moved by Mariah Carey's 1994 "All I Want for Christmas Is You" (listen above to hear part of our rendition). The night we were there the synchronized tunes were Holiday Pop Favorites but you can also catch differently themed playlists like Holiday Classics or Kids Favorites on other days of the week.
So go downtown before the end of the year and experience some joyous, family fun.
Food reporter Alejandro Figueroa and environmental reporter Chris Welter are corps members with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
