Shining in its Full Glory: Downtown for the Holidays

As routine as the sun rises, Ridgewood hosts Downtown for the Holidays every December to commence the start of Christmas season and bring people together with holiday spirit. The sun did not rise last year for Ridgewood, but this year’s tree lighting ceremony made up for that. Many RHS students were part of various groups at the event, as spectators, musicians, or even emergency personnel.

An RHS string septet and the RHS marching band both played Christmas music throughout the downtown. Julia M, a freshman at RHS, mentions “ performing for Downtown for the Holidays was an amazing experience. We played classical Christmas tunes, and the crowd’s energy helped make it a wonderful time. It felt great to see so many people together enjoying the holiday season after last year’s experience during the height of the pandemic…The highlight of the entire tree lighting for me was performing with the current Marching Band one last time, because next year it will be a different experience with new members.” 

In addition to the RHS music department were Christmas carolers who sang around the downtown. One anonymous caroller stated, “ For Downtown for the Holidays, I performed with the Ridgewood Carolers. We walked around the west side of town and sang some classical Christmas carols. It was amazing being able to perform normally again.” It was a cheerful event full of reunions, and finding little joys in performing and watching others perform. This year, the sun was back to its full glory.


Tarun Kalyanaraman
Staff Writer & Editor

Graphic: Tarun Kalyanaraman

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