The Huntington Holiday Spectacular returned to Wall Street on Saturday, welcomed by enthusiastic crowds who packed downtown for a parade and lighting of the 65-foot Christmas tree.
Briefly considered for relocation to Heckscher Park after two years of appearances on Wall Street, the spectacular was moved back to Wall Street after Northwell Health agreed to help sponsor the downtown event. That may have made Dr. Nick Fitterman, executive director of Huntington Hospital, the second-most popular participant in the parade.🎅
The crowd was festive throughout, as fire departments, elected leaders, Scouts, football players, dancers and other groups traveled up New York Avenue and onto Main Street before the scheduled lighting of the tree. Santa arrived, riding on the back of a Melville Fire Department firetruck.
Sal “The Voice” Valentinetti and 11-year-old Charlize Tuozzo performed, and when, after several minutes, people standing far back in the crowd couldn’t hear the singers or see the dancers in front of the tree, at least three rounds of chants to “Light that tree!” broke out. But the chants were short-lived and forgotten when a countdown began and a burst of light wreathed the tree.
The tree will be on Wall Street until Jan. 5, with many events scheduled throughout.
Northwell Funding Helps Move Holiday Spectacular Back to Wall Street
Extremely disappointed by how this was handled. Closing down Wall street is a safety hazard and completely unnecessary! These concerns have been forgotten in favor of photo ops with that hideous ginormous tree. It’s all fine and dandy until you’re the one stuck in traffic in an ambulance needing urgent care. For people with chronic illness, this is truly horrifying.