The ‘Macon Christmas Light Extravaganza’ is our unique way to usher in the holidays

It’s Thanksgiving weekend and a lot of folks will be stringing a couple dozen lights around the tree or in the yard.

But Bryan Nichols has been stringing lights downtown for months and he’s strung more than a million. So that’s what? Over 8,000 dozen by my math. For the seventh year, they’re mesmerizing as they flicker and dance in sync with seasonal music provided by Macon Pops.

Lights are officially on Friday, Nov. 24, as the “Macon Christmas Light Extravaganza” gets underway at 6 p.m. on Poplar Street near Macon City Hall. The Macon Pops will kick off the extravaganza with a live concert on Friday.

Then, until Jan. 3, lights are on every evening beginning at 6 with recorded music from Macon Pops. There’s a full 45-minute music program starting on the hour at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. with 15 minutes in-between to quietly stroll and enjoy the lights until the last show ends at 11 p.m., when the lights shut down.

“That’s 41 days of lights this year,” Nichols said, who came up with the idea and is still the main figure you’ll see up in the trees and who you won’t see in the hours he’s tucked away alone programming lights.

Nichols said he’s not just seeing more lights go up this year, he and others are noting downtown is coming alive more and more in numerous ways for Christmas and the season’s various celebrations.

“More storefronts are painting their windows, hanging lights and decorating in creative ways,” he said. “Even some of the downtown churches seem to be decorating more and Mayor (Lester) Miller has been doing up City Hall. Everybody’s been getting more into the spirit and it adds to downtown the whole season.”

Nichols said he’s been delighted to see other groups take on projects that fit in or add to what he started with the extravaganza.

“I’m glad it growing but I don’t have to start every new initiative and make it work – people are seeing things, getting ideas and seeing them through,” he said. “I’m all for it.”

For example, Bike Walk Macon’s Rachel Hollar Umana saw a need to prioritize pedestrian safety at the Second and Third street intersections with Poplar Street during the light show.

“We just want people to be safe,” Umana said. The group’s mission involves pedestrian safety, greater utilization of bikes and envisioning spaces equally friendly to each in areas geared for automobiles.

“Downtown is pretty walkable and pedestrian-friendly but the event has grown so wonderfully and brings so many more walkers that the interaction with cars at those fairly complicated intersections means it’s a little tricky. Pedestrians and kids have tended to cross traffic there dangerously. We met with Macon-Bibb County officials and the Sheriff’s Office who agreed and helped create a solution. It demonstrates how you can keep things manageable with cars but make them safe for others. That’s what we’re about.”

Essentially, the plan closes the intersections and extends the Poplar Street park-median walking route through the intersections not allowing cars to cross but to navigate around them. The bulk of lights are on Poplar Street and Third Street though decorative displays are growing throughout downtown.

The Second and Poplar street intersection closure is daily from 4-11 p.m. Nov. 25-Jan. 3.

The Third and Poplar street intersection closure is 24-hours-a-day beginning at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 22, through 10 a.m. Jan. 4.

‘We love seeing the crowds’

The Macon Pops Christmas Lights Extravaganza has a playlist of 31 rotating songs that synchronously accompany the lights in a variety of forms and fashions. Steve Moretti, president, CEO and percussionist for the pops, said there’s nothing quite like it or like performing the live, Friday opening concert.

“We love seeing the crowds enjoying themselves and there’s nothing quite like looking at five city blocks with all those lights in sync,” he said. “There’s no one doing what we’re doing here or doing it at the level of quality. ... We’ll have our regular 40-piece orchestra here this year along with seven featured local players and singers. Then there are all the tech people and others in the background.”

Moretti stressed the background activity across the holiday extravaganza. Rehearsal and recording time, light checking and programming time, and more.

The event is a significant part of downtown and the city’s growth bringing almost 800,000 people out to see the lights in the past couple of years with many staying overnight and many coming from places 50-plus miles away. Some say some businesses and restaurants make enough over the holidays now to help see them through less profitable months.

“It makes our entire downtown get into the holiday spirit,” said Emily Hopkins, Newtown Macon’s director of place and Macon Main Street manager.

“The whole place is more inviting, more merry and bright. Many businesses are creating their own events now and bringing their own ideas of making downtown Macon more of a Christmas celebration destination. It brings people downtown who haven’t been here or haven’t been in a long time.

“When people come down, they can walk, enjoy the scene, have a meal, shop and enjoy the nightlife. It’s hard to imagine Macon without the Christmas show and insane to think back to how things were eight years ago without Bryan doing it. It does a great job inviting people and showing off downtown,” she said.

“We hoped the lights and all the effort would bring good things and rejuvenate downtown and it has,” Nichols said. “And the enjoyment it brings has surpassed what I imagined. I might get tired of hanging lights and fixing problems but I don’t ever get tired of all the smiling faces.”

Special events during the Macon Christmas Light Extravaganza and event links to them are at http://www.newtownmacon.com/the-2023-macon-christmas-light-extravaganza, including Saturday’s Shop Small Saturday Shopping Power Hours.

For more on the extravaganza itself, go to www.maconchristmaslightextravaganza.com.

Out and about this weekend

Saturday: Jontavious Willis and Robert Coleman and their bands at Grant’s Lounge, 576 Poplar St., at 9 p.m. A chance to hear two blues greats with full bands at Grant’s. www.historicgrants.com

Sunday: Artists Sunday at Triangle Arts Macon, 192 Lower Elm St., noon to 5 p.m. Open artist studios, art activities, gallery exhibit, crafts, puppetry, a kid zone and more. Make holiday cards with Rhonda Miller, see alcohol-paint demonstrations, Valkill Studio furniture-making demonstrations, and graffiti lessons and a community effort mural board (so wear paint clothes). Fall Line Brewery will be pouring hot apple cider and craft beer all at a scenic location great for selfies and family photos. www.triangleartsmacon.com

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.