It's Beginning to Look a Lot like .....

The skies grow increasingly more slate-grey as the days get darker sooner and the temperatures continue to drop while winter settles in across New England ahead of its official start way later this month. 

I'm not a big fan of the snow and the cold but I will point out that perhaps not so coincidentally there's more light and bright coming from within and without each of us as the joy of the holiday season starts to unfold a little more and accelerate as each day passes. 

And, as Small Business Saturday over last weekend showed, we're just getting started when it comes to celebrating the season. This week, we really get serious because again, as the kick-off to First Friday Norwich, this Friday it's the annual lighting of City Hall, starting at around half past five with Santa flipping the switch slated for six o'clock. 

If recent years are any indication, we may need a bigger downtown as hundreds and hundreds (and more) of us pour into every nook and cranny around City Hall for the carols, the singalongs and (of course) the countdown to and lighting of one of the most beautiful public buildings in all of New England (and when it gleams like a beacon, flanked by the two churches, throughout the holiday season it is, in my biased, even more lovely). And then afterward instead of heading home, why not enjoy the ever-expanding attractions and activities across Chelsea as the artists and artisans of First Friday show off and share? 

All that chatter you've been hearing and reading about in terms of an ongoing revival and renaissance across downtown isn't wishful thinking, it's concrete and brick and truer now than it was this time a year ago (and the year before that, if you're keeping track) and continues rolling merrily along because so many new people, enthusiastic beginners I like to call them, are staking their claim and working as hard as they can to make their piece of Norwich something special and something worth coming home to and not just for the holidays, though that's certainly a good start.

Sponsored by the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce, First Friday is a convenient label to write on your monthly calendar but the attractions and events are an ever-changing delight. It's a collaboration among the galleries, theatres, businesses, and civic organizations allying with local artists to include painters, sculptors, actors, musicians, culinary experts, authors, and photographers to bring each of us a night they hope we'll long remember and strive to equal on any and all of the other nights of the month that aren't First Friday.

If you tend to only go through downtown on your way to someplace elsewhere, you've got an evening awaiting you that won't have enough hours in it for all the exhibits you can check out, places to have a quick (or a leisurely) bite or perhaps to share a glass of cheer, or adult beverage of your choice, and you'll wonder, with good reason, why you haven't stopped in sooner, and more frequently, and longer and (see where this going?).

And I haven't even mentioned the Winterfest Parade starting Saturday afternoon at one on Main Street near Otis Library, Well, except now I have, I guess, and after I promise to see you there if I don't see you at City Hall Friday night, I'll return you to your regularly scheduled holiday season already in progress.
-bill kenny