By Peyton Saunders | Staff Writer
One of the many entrances to the Bluffwalk through Art Alley. Photo by Peyton Saunders.
Bright Nights on the Bluffwalk is back for a third year of holiday cheer, with the light show in Downtown Lynchburg from Nov. 23 to Jan. 4, with live music every weekend.
As the holiday season descends upon the city, the Bright Nights kick-off celebration was filled with lights, holiday cheer, food, artisan vendors, snow machines, Christmas characters, and dogs, donkeys, and ponies.
The vendors were very diverse, and while they may not be found at the Bluffwalk after the kick-off event, their businesses can be found in Lynchburg and throughout Virginia.
One of the vendors I tried was the Raider Café, visiting all the way from Appomattox County. They served holiday-themed hot chocolate, with a peppermint mocha called Grinchy Greens, a raspberry white chocolate drink called Sugar Plum Swirl, and a fudge-flavored cocoa called Frosty’s Fudge, among others. Each hot cocoa came with a unique cookie. As exciting as the flavors and cookies were, when we ordered a few to try, we found the unique flavors a little bland and hard to distinguish. The cookies were delicious, however, and maybe we would’ve had a better experience if we had dipped our cookies in the hot chocolate.
The Bluffwalk is pet-friendly, and the event coordinators also brought some of their own animals. The website mentioned a “puppy kissing booth,” which I was very excited to find. The booth featured an adorably friendly golden retriever named Chance in Christmas pajamas. He relished all the attention that came his way.
There was also a petting zoo and pony rides. I am not built for pony rides and was also wearing a dress, so I fed the animals. The attendant didn’t know the animals’ names, but they sure had funny personalities. When feeding the animals, the blonde pony was running right over the donkey to get to the food. It was honestly a little tricky to feed the donkey, but I made sure they both got some.
Events like this are designed to bring attention to Downtown Lynchburg businesses. A sneaky bit of design was the lack of public restrooms on the Bluffwalk, except for a few porta-potties. This led us to step into a store and buy something when we needed to use the restroom. Thankfully, we found an eclectic little store called Shay’s, where most of the items are handmade by Shay, who owns and operates the shop. Thankfully, we found a few things we wanted, but it was a little shady of the Downtown Lynchburg Association to do this.
Many businesses were out advertising in front of their stores, offering coupons to anyone who walked by. The Maple Leaf Tea Room is a traditional English-style tearoom complete with decorative tea sets and plates, a wide range of afternoon tea options, and a picture of Queen Elizabeth II to top it off. I will review the place soon.
