I've received several emails from people who were disappointed with the lack of Christmas displays in the city. I guess from what I heard and read, the majority of gripes are from the lack of displays on Main Street. Many people pointed towards Main Street in Ridgefield, looked at the display on the trees, and wondered why Danbury didn't do something similar this year.

To get a better understanding, here's a picture of the two Main Streets.

Ridgefield (click to enlarge):


Danbury (click to enlarge):


From my understanding, Main Street during Christmas time didn't always look this dark and I do recall a time when the trees in the middle of the street were lit. You might not be able to make it out in the photo but the only thing lit up on the street in Danbury this year was the light poles.

I guess most people I talked to wondered why the city couldn't do more than place some decorations besides lighting street poles on the street which bulbs need to be replaced either because they went out (as in the case with the pole on White Street in the photo) or they were probably stolen.

I had to dig through my old pictures of Main Street from several years back but I did find cases when the street was noticeably different. Unfortunately, since these photos are not dated, not digitized, and my scanner is down, I unable post them nor am I able to give you a time period (given that these photos were taken with by film SLR camera, the photo is at least 4 years old since this I bought my first digital camera in 2002). I also did some research while I was out and check out a couple of places that had photos of Main Street during Christmas seasons in the not-so-far past and it also showed a Main Street which was very different from what we see today (due to copyright reasons, I'm also unable to post these images but they're not hard to find).

Now when I talk about decorations on Main Street, were not talking about buildings such as the library or churches, we're talking about the road itself and after traveling around the area, I can see their point.

I guess this all the gloom from people I talk to could stem from the disappointment from several families that First Night was cancelled, which brings me to my next point.

For years, my wife and I were one of the rare couple without children who went to the First Night celebrations and it's really too bad that the whole thing was cancelled because it truly was a HUGE hit with families. The sad thing is that First Night has been on life support for years and it's a shame that the city couldn't find a way to work out the kinks. It's not like people didn't know what the problems were as it was the same ol' thing year after year: 1.) lack of volunteers and 2.) lack of funds. Maybe with more aggressive advertising campaign, an earlier call for volunteers, as well more support from all politicians (on both sides of the political aisle), Danbury can get it's act together for 2008.

If people would work together for the common good of the area, then there is no reason First Night couldn't be a success every year. If the Taste of Danbury is any indication (which was a amazing success), families will come out of their homes if you give them a reason to step out (FYI: I will post by video and photo footage from the Taste of Danbury later this weekend to give you an idea of what I'm talking about in case you missed it).

It's really a shame that a city the size of Danbury won't have a great event like First Night, which brings together families and neighbors in the area. I know I'm going to miss it as well as many other people I met over the years at First Night events. Hopefully, the city will take notice about this and the issue on Main Street and make the necessary changes in the future.