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Council approves $50,000 for Shops at Legacy tree lighting event
By Kim Nguyen, knguyen@acnpapers.com
The festive and crowd-pleasing Tree Lighting Festival at The Shops at Legacy will grace the shopping complex again this year, as the Plano City Council approved Monday a grant of $50,000 for the event.
“When we were having the event before, it brought in a lot of people from all over the area,” said Lee Dunlap, Deputy Mayor Pro Tem. “I attended two events before and both were very well attended, the streets were packed in all directions. I look forward to attending the event and seeing it become as successful this time around.”
The Nov. 22 tree-lighting event at The Shops at Legacy North was one of four events requesting funding from the city due to the events being hosted in one of the city’s urban town centers. The funds for the events come from the city’s general fund.
Proceeds from the event will benefit Children’s Medical Center Legacy. The Shops at Legacy will also be collecting toys to donate to the Plano Christmas Cops. The Plano Christmas Cops program is celebrating its 25th anniversary and hopes to assist many families in need in the Plano area.
The original request for a $150,000 grant was denied, but the council did choose to allot $50,000 for the event during the all-day budget work session in August. The council finalized the details and approved the funding agreement at Monday’s meeting.
Mayor Pro Tem Harry LaRosiliere said its money well-spent.
“We also fund the Downtown Dickens event because it is an opportunity to celebrate the holidays and spur people to come out to shop and visit downtown Plano,” he said. “We don’t see it any different for an event at The Shops at Legacy.”
Councilman Pat Miner agrees.
“We have a responsibility to help the city be successful,” he said. “We have two main entertainment zones in Plano, The Shops at Legacy and Downtown Plano. Funding those events helps provide an incentive to get people into Plano businesses and spend money to increase our sales base.”
Without city support, events like the Tree Lighting Festival at The Shops at Legacy and Dickens in Downtown Plano would not likely be as ornate and crowd-pleasing as the Plano community has come to know, Miner said.
“We’re trying to help merchants on both sides of town be successful,” he said. “If we don’t help Plano businesses and help make a good draw for our city, our city’s going to suffer even more.”
The Lights of Legacy Tree Lighting Festival has been one of the shopping complex’s most popular events, drawing huge crowds to the Plano area and into The Shops at Legacy, helping boost the city’s sales tax revenues.
“It attracts thousands and thousands of people from all over the Metroplex,” LaRosiliere said. “People come to watch the tree lighting and stay to shop and eat. There are buses that transport people from off-site parking because the complex parking is full. The event encourages shopping in Plano and people spending their dollars in Plano.”
It has been projected that more than 20,000 people attended previous years’ tree lighting events.
The celebration features activities for the entire family including carolers, face-painting, train rides, caricature artists and a visit from Santa Claus, all while various musical groups and choirs will perform on three different stages. Merchants will also be hosting a variety of activities and special promotions both inside and outside their stores.
“I had never seen that many people packed into the Legacy shopping center before,” Miner said. “It’s wall-to-wall, elbow-to-elbow, shoulder-to-shoulder packed with people, and all those people will spend their money in Plano and contribute to our sales tax.”
Since the complex discontinued the tree-lighting event in 2007, the shopping center has not had the same atmosphere during the holidays since.
“There are still lights, but the biggest attraction, the tree lighting festival, wasn’t there,” LaRosiliere said. “By funding this event, we’re participating in the holiday spirit and showing our willingness to form partnerships with local businesses, whether it’s downtown with the Dickens event or uptown with the Legacy event.”
Now that the Plano City Council has approved the grant, festival organizers are hopeful that the event will once again be the crown jewel of holiday events at The Shops at Legacy.
“We are thrilled to hold this celebration at The Shops at Legacy this year. We are proud to be a part of it and feel this is an ideal location for a great event to kick off the holidays,” said Andrea Taylor, CMD, marketing director of Shops at Legacy. “I’m confident everyone who attends will have a wonderful time. This is a great community event that The Shops at Legacy is proud to host. It gives families a chance to spend time together in a very fun atmosphere.”
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