Don’t forget, today is Sparkle! If you haven’t been to a sparkle yet, this almost 40 year tradition is a blast. From 5pm-9pm in downtown Corning, NY, Market Street turns into a holiday street festival. Visit the Sparkle facebook page. It’s quite a unique experience; a nighttime street festival, outside in the winter, walking on Market St covered in lights and decorations, with tons of people & holiday cheer to spread around.

There is food, entertainment, shopping, games, prizes, horse & carriage rides, reindeer, and there’s even a ski ramp set up with some fake snow in front of Bergers Ski and Snowboard Shop. But there’s one thing that will be noticeably different this year than in recent years. Sparkle always seems to fall on a very bitter cold evening. While it’ll be a cold 33°-37° tomorrow, it won’t be so cold that your extremities will freeze and fall off (I’m still looking for that leg that fell off 2 years ago).

That being said, bundle up, and if your bringing a large family, have a plan because it will be very busy. Even during the coldest Sparkle I’ve ever been to (2 years ago), the street was jammed with a crowd, restaurants were full, and bars were overflowing.  Although, the Gaffer District does a great job of avoiding what could otherwise be chaos.

Myles Lasco

Myles started UrbanCorning.com and Facebook.com/UrbanCorning in 2008, and ran it until May of 2014. Myles moved to Tacoma, WA and his new website can be found at: www.tacomatose.com.