By Chia Schonberg
On November 27th, the day after our first Thanksgiving without our families and traditions, the
LiminoCity Festival opened its doors with a sense of hope, and the first real hint of holiday spirit 2020 has
offered. Every year driving down the FDR thousands of curious New Yorkers can see the glimmer of a
luminous field across the water on Randall’s Island, many will never find the time to venture forth and
investigate, but with a global pandemic clearing the schedules of thousands of Americans, that childlike
sense of wonder at anything that glitters is needed more than ever before.
There is a promise of safety when you book your time slot and get the email with the various Covid 19 restrictions, some hands-on aspects of the experience had been canceled so a 20 percent refund was issued, all guests must wear masks, stickers on the floor marked 6 feet apart on the line, and upon arrival, a small hard working staff doing their best to answer all questions and take everyone’s temperature upon entry. There was a lot of confusion on how staff should handle VIP guests who needed to be towards the front the line but also needed to be at least 6 feet away from the others at the front. Both staff and guests did their best though, just to make sure that we didn’t ruin this small tradition they have allowed us to keep during this trying time.
Inside the lighted maze people respected others’ space, standing back as they took pictures every few feet or so with colorful monoliths that lined the path. Some crowds did seem to cluster around the more popular features, but in all there was a feeling of reverence to the restrictions. What stood out was the idea that even with every person wearing their masks correctly, you could feel every face in that field, smiling.
So while it’s important to put so many of our traditions on hold this holiday season, there are still some things in New York City that we can save if we’re willing to do them differently. The LuminoCity Festival will be going on until January 10, 2021, tickets range from $17 to $55. Student and senior discounts are available.
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