This holiday season, more than 10,000 lights are strung throughout Joe W. Brown Memorial Park, illuminating the grounds with holiday motifs like candy canes, angels and Santa Clauses and giving visitors the opportunity to revel in winter festivities.

The New Orleans Recreation Development (NORD) Commission has once again begun its annual Holiday in the Park celebration at the New Orleans East park, which will run until Jan. 2.

In addition to thousands of lights, this year’s event includes music, over 200 pieces of holiday decor and lighted trees. Visitors can experience the festivities via a drive-through or a walk-through tour.

The one-to-two hour walking tour is a first for Holiday in the Park and features a “Santa’s Village.” Visitors on the walking tour can also meet Santa Claus on the weekends. 

“You’re seeing the work of the community members and neighborhood associations and community leaders coming together to make this one big vision of New Orleans East,” said Larry Barabino, the parks commission’s CEO.

Community groups including Friends of Joe Brown Park and the East New Orleans Neighborhood Advisory Commission worked together to realize the vision for Holiday in the Park.

Claudia Celestand is a member of the Holiday in the Park committee. She said the celebration and its organization has been an ongoing, evolving journey.

“We started in March, and we started formulating what the plan would be, how we would get that media attention and how we would do fundraising and the lights,” Celestand said. “It’s been a learning process for a lot of us, but it’s been a growth process also.”

Celestand added that there were challenges that Holiday in the Park organizers have had to face since its inception in 2019. Last year’s celebration was interrupted by the hard freeze and high winds New Orleans faced last winter, she said. 

Organizers have also struggled to market Holiday in the Park given other, more established holiday celebrations in town, such as Christmas in the Oaks, Celestand said.

“When we look at our other parks, the events are more established, like the St. Tammany light show, like Lafrieniere — they have TV sponsors,” said Celestand. “But here, Joe Brown is in its infancy.” 

Members of NORD’s Holiday in the Park committee decorate a Christmas tree for the annual holiday celebration on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023. Credit: Khalil Gillon / Verite News

However, this year’s celebration is a far cry from where Holiday in the Park began in 2019, said Barabino. Originally, the festivities consisted of a train and decorations for a pedestrian bridge inside the park.

This year’s Holiday in the Park, which has more than 30 sponsors, is expected to see three times more visitors than last year, Celestand said.

One big sponsor was the Bayou Classic, which led to Holiday in the Park being featured in the annual Bayou Classic Thanksgiving parade last month.

But the most important part of the celebration is the community, Barabino said.

“We know that in New Orleans East, you have a large population of middle to low income families that possibly can’t afford to go out to Celebration in the Oaks,” Barabino said. “Today we’re free. You can ride through, you can participate in activities and events on different stuff that’s hosted because we know that we’re trying to serve the community.”

Some other neighborhood holiday events taking place this month:

Thrive New Orleans, a local community organization, is partnering with DePaul Community Health Centers to hand out free toys on a first-come, first-served basis in the Desire neighborhood this month. On Saturday, Dec. 16, the groups will give out toys at 3320 Johnny Jackson Jr Boulevard from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. On Saturday, Dec. 23, also  from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m, the groups will be at 3600 Desire Pkwy.

Greater St. Stephen, a church in New Orleans East, will also hold a free toy giveaway for children up to 14 years old. The church is expected to hand out 1,000 toys at its location across from Joe Brown Memorial Park on 5600 Read Boulevard on Saturday, Dec. 16, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Khalil Gillon is a New Orleans native from Algiers. He attended Thomas Jefferson High School and is a graduate of Louisiana State University in political journalism. Passionate about politics, Gillon ran...