Holiday spirit glows in Winterfest lighting ceremony on Public Square

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nowadays it can seem hard for Northeast Ohioans to put any ho-ho-ho in the holiday season.

On the one hand, our football fortunes are wobbling on sprained ankles, and the local economy seems as bleak as the gray winter skies.
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But when the other hand is poised to unleash the magic of 4,000 strands of some half-million lights, everything can change with the flick of a switch.

Such was the case Saturday night when the holiday lights blazed on Public Square as part of the day-long Winterfest celebration downtown.

Celebrants jammed Public Square, bundled against the cold, waiting for that first moment of illuminated color.

The mood was festive, like a refrigerated carnival, as vendors worked the crowd, selling pink cotton candy, light wands and red-and-white-striped jester hats that sprouted from heads like candy-cane worms.

As Ralph Howard, 70, of Cleveland, ushered guests into the Cleveland Plus Visitor Center, he didn't seem the least bit mortified to be wearing a pink bunny suit -- a visual reference to the dreaded present given Ralphie in the movie "A Christmas Story," partly filmed in Cleveland.

After all, when you've already dressed like Clifford the Big Red Dog, a Purple Panda and the Cookie Monster for other publicity events, a "snow bunny" fits right in.

People like Ronald Barkley, 64, of Warrensville Heights, were primed to plug in the holiday spirit. "You want to get yourself started, get cranked up," said Barkley, who has visited this annual affair for most of the past 41 years with his wife, Kathy.

"I like being here with everybody, and nobody bothers you," Barkley added.

That Christmas camaraderie also was noted by Brent McNeely, 37, of Sheffield Lake, who wore a Steelers jacket to the lighting ceremony but said nobody in the heart of Browns territory had given him any grief about it.

McNeely had come to the ceremony to celebrate -- both his 17th wedding anniversary with his wife, Tina, and his return to work after being laid off for more than a year.

If there was something bigger than football rivalries going on that night, perhaps it was best illustrated when Santa took the stage just before they lit up the Square.

Waving with one hand at the bearded figure, Vasilios Capuozzo, 7, of Painesville Township asked his father, "Is that the real Santa?"

His father, Joe Capuozzo, looked down and wisely replied, "Yes." His son started waving with two hands.

The switch was flicked and the crowd suddenly came to a quiet hush in the twinkling glow of a red, green, blue, white and gold forest of lights hanging from shimmering tree branches and street lamps.

Ronald Barley's son Jason, 40, who remembered attending this event since he was a little boy, looked around Public Square and mused, "This is my home town. Where else would I be?"

Times are tough, sure. But as Barkley said, "Good news is where you find it."

And Saturday night it was right there on Public Square.

(Article courtesy of Cleveland.com)