Sewickley Light Up Night draws a festive crowd

Justin Bollman found delight in watching his children play in the snow outside the Cochran Hose fire station in Sewickley.

Braelyn, 9, and Brent, 5, threw snowballs, chased each other around a tree decorated in Christmas lights, and occasionally pelted Bollman and their mother, Kenzie, during the borough’s Light Up Night celebration on Dec. 5.

It was an experience several years in the making for the family, who live in Imperial.

Bollman’s work schedule as a radiation protection technician at a Beaver Valley power station had prevented him from joining the little ones on the holiday excursion. He would not be denied this time.

“The kids have come with their grandparents,” Bollman said. “It just didn’t line up over the years.”

Clad in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sweater that read “Merry Christmas Dudes,” the father said they really cherished the day.

“It really brings out the holiday spirit,” Bollman said.

“We walked in when the band was over there playing our favorite Christmas song, ‘Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town’ by Bruce Springsteen.”

Kenzie Bollman said they loved the activities at the kids zone outside the borough building and having hot chocolate.

Braelyn said the best part of the day was making s’mores and playing games at the Sewickley Public Library.

Brent also said he loved the library’s games and spending time with family.

Festival activities

There was a flurry of activities up and down Broad and Beaver streets.

Sweetwater Center for the Arts brought its SweetRide mobile art unit and had a family craft in which folks made holiday hats out of construction paper and cotton balls.

Artists from Pittsburgh-based Ice Creations had a carving contest, carving out Olof from Disney’s “Frozen,” a minion from Illumination’s “Despicable Me” franchise and Snoopy and Woodstock from the “Peanuts” cartoons on a sleigh.

Other activities included horse-drawn carriage rides, cotton candy station, strolling characters and face painting.

Multiple churches served as warming centers and had hot chocolate.

There were two stages for live entertainment. The main stage was along Broad Street and featured professional acts and tribute bands. A youth stage along Walnut Street offered teens and younger people a place to showcase their talents.

Moon Township friends Gia Carlisle, 17, her sister Luciana, 15, Gigi Kobaly, 13, and Allison Harvey, 13, were among the Arena’s Dance Company performers.

They performed holiday classics, including selections from “The Nutcracker.”

“It was a lot of fun and there were so many people that were giving us so much great energy,” Gigi said.

Gia said stretches, jumping jacks and having long-sleeved costumes helped her group battle the freezing temperatures.

“The worst part is the cold,” she said. “Dancing in front of people is the easy part. … (The crowd) is always very energetic. They’re always ready to support us.”

The dance company and other performers warmed up after the show at the nearby Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center.

Allison said the group has been friends for a while and performed at previous Light Up Nights. They give each other pep talks before taking the stage.

“It’s more exciting than nervous,” Allison said.

Business participation

There were 20 food trucks at the event, including PGH Crepes, Vitalia, Patti’s Pastries, DonutNV, SouthSide BBQ Company and Rockin’ Dogs & Spuds.

Several borough businesses also had extended hours.

Sewickley Eye Group served about 1,000 cups of hot chocolate.

“It’s wonderful to do that,” said Dr. Ivan Baumwell of Edgeworth.

“Some years it’s a little warmer. Some years it’s a little colder. This is one of the colder years. It’s nice to give people an opportunity to come in, warm up, wrap their hands around a warm cup of hot chocolate.

“The event is wonderful, but your feet can get tired after walking around for a while. It’s nice to be able to sit down, take a breath, warm up, fuel up.”

Eye group owners are Baumwell and Dr. Richard Bowers of Sewickley. They have been a part of Light Up for many years and have operated out of their Broad Street building since 2004.

“This is a way to give back to our patients and our community,” Bowers said. “We’ve lived here for many years. Our kids grew up here. It’s so wonderful seeing the kids coming through. … (Sewickley) is quintessential small town America.”

RE/MAX Select Realty, which is in the same professional building as the eye group, had s’more-making kits complete with a controlled fire about 30 feet from the main entrance.

Karen Tobias of Shaler made s’mores with her grandson, Finn Tobias, 11, and his friend Gavin Goldstein, both of Sewickley Hills.

“I’m enjoying it,” she said.

“It’s fun to see people out, families, kids. We watched some little ballerinas. We’ve had food. They’ve gone to the candy store. We’re just having a good time enjoying the lights.”

Finn said the key to a good s’more is a well-done marshmallow.

“You’ve got to toast it all the way until it’s black,” he said.

Fireworks helped close out the evening.

Coming together

Bridgett Bates, councilwoman and event committee co-chair, said volunteers start planning and making their first phone calls for the event in April.

FNB Corp was the presenting sponsor. About 8,000 people are estimated to have participated.

“I think it was such a smooth night,” Bates said.

“People were having fun, enjoying the stage action and the food trucks. It was really successful in my opinion.”

Each one of the 10 committee members is assigned a task from volunteer coordination, business/sponsor participation, to safety/traffic and cleanup organizing.

“We break up the jobs (and) everybody does their part,” Bates said. “In the end, hopefully it’s not too much of a heavy lift for any one individual.

“I’ve lived here for almost 20 years. This night is such an incredibly special night for families. It’s great for people who come from out of our community (and) for our community to be the host and for folks that live here to be able to say, ‘This is my town. This is my village.’”

Bates thanked public works for being “the spine for the heavy lifting,” as well as firefighters, police, borough manager Donna Kaib and her staff for helping make the evening a success.