The Green Bay Packers and Festival Foods are set to host the 17th annual Festival of Lights at Lambeau Field, Saturday, Dec. 2, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The family-themed event, free to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. in the Lambeau Field Atrium, and feature holiday movies and cartoons, holiday card making, area high school choirs performing holiday music and photo opportunities with Santa Claus.
Families will also have the chance to decorate cookies provided by Festival Foods. Attendees that would like to purchase sugar cookies at the event should note that the event is cashless.
Volunteers will also be on hand during the event to collect toys and donations for Toys for Tots. Families attending Festival of Lights are encouraged to donate new, unwrapped toys to help families in need this holiday season.
At 6:30 p.m. the event will move out onto Harlan Plaza for the formal lighting of the tree.
The tree has been chosen for the event and will be harvested the morning of Monday, Nov. 27, in De Pere, and erected on Harlan Plaza. The decoration of the tree will follow later in the week with more than 10,000 lights. The winning tree was selected through a submission process in which fans submitted a photo of their tree and explained why it should be chosen.
Roger and Patricia Gadda will donate their blue spruce tree to be on display at Lambeau Field this holiday season in memory of the previous homeowner, Tom, who was a lifelong Packers fan and passed away a few years ago. Tom always dreamed that one day, his tree would be selected to be displayed in front of Lambeau Field. Every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Tom and his grandsons made a tradition out of decorating the tree to perfection with thousands of lights. Everyone in the neighborhood felt that the tree being displayed this year at Lambeau Field would be an excellent final tribute to a great neighbor.
In recognition of providing the tree for the event, the Gaddas will receive four tickets to the Packers-Buccaneers game on Dec. 17.
