Another Magical Night has come and gone.
It was a well organized event, returning to in-person after two years of being a drive through event, and there are plenty of things to praise.
One of the biggest – Moving the cookie decoration to the Presbyterian Church basement was a terrific move. We know it has been traditionally at First Street Community Center, but that library set up has always been congested and contributed to tight traffic in one center for the entirety of the festival. The new space gave more space for kids to get to tables to decorate cookies, as well as transition to eating cookies and opening up space around the table without feeling terribly congested. Having the Animanagerie display and Intercultural Life display at the same church gave families something else to do before another dose of sugar and dopamine for kids as well and better integrated both events into a festival, reminding people of other holidays in the area.
Streets being closed is something you forget about how nice it is until it happens, and the luxury of not having to crowd on sidewalks if you don’t need to get from one end of the community to another is a plus. Yes, it adds to the headache of parking in uptown Mount Vernon during a night like this, but it also gives five blocks of safety for kids to wander and not worry about traffic during a festival.
Downtown Mount Vernon was bustling Thursday evening. Be that The Local’s Elfie station and activities, or restaurants open in uptown Mount Vernon, there was plenty going on.
The addition this year of the soup supper from Southeast Linn Community Center was also a huge benefit, as it gave an additional meal element to the evening and one more draw to events across the whole uptown and support an organization that supports Mount Vernon and Lisbon.
There are a lot of moving parts for planning a festival this large every year, and it was great to see music and holiday wonderment back on our city streets. A huge shout out to the Magical Night Committee for finding a way to bring this back to an in-person event.