Everybody does Christmas, but nobody in Lake County does it quite like Highwood is doing it this year.
In the elegant Italian tradition of Chicago`s Venetian night, Highwood is celebrating the season with an after-dark extravaganza called Festa Di Luce.
The festivities began with a lighted parade on the weekend after Thanksgiving and will conclude on Jan. 3, when prizes are awarded in the home and business decorating contests.
”We literally started all of this on Sept. 2, so we got a late start with the planning, but we think we managed to put together something really special,” said Lisa Cervac, a member of the planning committee.
”We had some exciting ideas and we figured it was time to put up or shut up,” added Lorena Lovering, another committee member.
A town of restaurants and taverns that truly comes to life only at night, Highwood is the perfect place for after-dark holiday activities. As a part of the festival, restaurant goers could take leisurely carriage rides around town, fight off the chill with warm chestnuts roasted by Highwood`s Modenese Society or just stroll through the city streets and enjoy the holiday lights that glitter like a thousand tiny stars.
The festival also featured the final performance of the 4th Army Band from the soon-to-be-closed Fort Sheridan last weekend, and two performances of ”Sleeping Beauty” by the Children`s Theater Fantasy Orchard on Monday.
Although Highwood is known for its Italian heritage-many of the town`s early residents came from the mountainous Modena region of Italy-it also has a significant Hispanic population.
In a nod to the Hispanic community, Saturday night featured a traditional ”posada,” a lighted procession that commemorates the journey of Joseph and Mary.
”It`s been a lot more work than I ever expected, but a lot of people have gotten involved. When we started this, everybody told us we`d never get any help, but people have been coming out of the woodwork,” Lovering said.
The Highwood Restaurant Association, for example, contributed the money to hire the horse and carriage, so that the proceeds from the $2 per-person carriage rides could be donated to the local schools.
Planners are so pleased with the results that they expect to make the Festa di Luce an annual event. ”We hope this will just be the first of many,” Lovering said.
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