NORWALK, CT — The city held its third annual Wall Street Wonderland holiday event over the weekend, featuring live music and festive fun for families in attendance, as well as residents and businesses in the city’s Wall Street area.
The event, which took place on River Street from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., centered around a tree lighting ceremony at 6 p.m.
Prior to the tree being lit, guests enjoyed rides on a trackless train and live musical and dance performances by local groups, including the Norwalk Conservatory of the Arts, Norwalk Metropolitan Youth Ballet and Pontos Dance Troupe.
Area restaurants and food vendors such as Greer Southern Table, BJ Ryan’s BANC House and Bubbly’s Bubble Tea offered refreshments for guests of all ages.
Other Wall Street-area businesses also hosted pop-up experiences that invited attendees to shop, explore and support the local community in the spirit of the holiday season.
KO Parties, a company that provides character appearances for special events, brought sisters Anna and Elsa from the popular Disney franchise “Frozen” to the event, along with Belle from “Beauty and the Beast,” to perform some musical numbers and take photos with children.
The Norwalk Fire Department later transported Santa Claus to the event, where Jolly Old St. Nick himself helped Mayor Harry Rilling count down to the lighting of the tree, complete with holiday sparkles and fake snow.
Rilling briefly spoke beforehand and wished everyone throughout Norwalk a merry Christmas. He also recalled asking guests during the city’s first Wall Street Wonderland event three years ago if it should be an annual event, to which he received a resounding “yes.”
Rilling also noted the holiday season was a “wonderful time of the year” for families.
“Please remember our men and women in the military who are serving overseas,” Rilling said, “and please also remember people who live right here in Norwalk that may not have the things that we have.”
BJ Lawless, the owner of Wall Street-area restaurants BJ Ryan’s and BJ Ryan’s BANC House, thanked everyone in attendance for coming out and making this year’s event another wonderful celebration down on River Street.
“A special thanks to all of the performers and performances that went on here tonight…from all of us here on the Wall Street businesses, thank you for your continued support,” Lawless said.
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