LIVERPOOL, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – It’s no secret that winter comes early to Central New York, but not only does it come early, it comes with all the ferocity the old Snow Miser can put into it. Across the region people woke up having to shovel their sidewalks this morning.
By 4:00 p.m, the snow had stopped falling, but in its place came freezing temperatures and vicious wind gusts. In Liverpool, the wind chill dipped down to 9 degrees, single digits, before 6:00 p.m. That wasn’t enough to deter the thousands of people who turned out for the Lights on the Lake Stroll, the unofficial start to the Christmas season in Central New York.
“You gotta have a special kind of heart for the lights to be out here,” said Carzell Addison. “It’s definitely a painful, blustering wind. It’s beautiful out here, it’s just that it’s super cold.”
If you were looking for someone who wasn’t ready to brave the cold, they were nowhere to be found.
“I’m here with my friends, and we came to see lights by the lake, and we’re just having a good time,” said Adam Van Pelt. “We’re all bundled up, we got coffee, we got donuts, we got layers. We just came for a good time. It sucks, but you come for the memories, we’re making memories.”
Young and old braved the cold for the joy of taking in this year’s light display.
“I bundle up so it’s fine,” said Summer Bruyen. “I’m still having fun with my friends.”
That being said, not everyone was there just for the lights.
“My teacher made me come,” said Jasmine Simms. “It’s sort of an extra credit assignment, so it’s worth it.”
However, the most outspoken proponents of braving the cold were the children.
“It’s really cold, but I don’t care,” said young Davis Wright. “I love Christmas, 1,000 percent so I’m having fun.”
Bundled up tighter than a pig in a blanket, the children of Central New York would not be deterred.
“The only thing that’s cold is my face,” said a young boy named Brady. “Maybe my toes a little. But this is fun.”
Ultimately, the spirit of Christmas runs far too deep for these revelers to be turned away.
“I hang out with my friends and I drink hot cocoa, and I just watch a lot of Christmas movies,” said Bruyen. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is my favorite. It’s the perfect way to spend Christmas.”
But the young boy Davis Wright had perhaps the best reason for being out in the cold. For him, there is one simple word that is most important during the Christmas season.
“Family,” Wright said.
Now that’s a philosophy we can all get behind.
