PATERSON’S PARADE OF LIGHTS: THE NIGHT CITY HALL BECAME THE NORTH POLE

By The Garden State Gazette Staff

PATERSON, NJ – Paterson didn’t just flip on a Christmas tree.
It flipped the switch on the whole season.

From Grand Street down Main straight to Market, the city’s annual Christmas Parade of Lights rolled through downtown like a moving constellation — fire trucks wrapped in LEDs, kids hanging out of float windows waving glow sticks, marching bands, dancers, and neighbors lining the sidewalks shoulder-to-shoulder in the cold.

At the finish line: Paterson City Hall, where the crowd packed into the plaza and waited for the moment everything would go from gray November to full-blown December.

A CITY THAT SHOWED UP

This wasn’t some sleepy background event.

Families brought folding chairs, blankets, and thermoses. Kids sprinted to the curb every time sirens and music blared by. Cars slowed down just to roll their windows down and watch.

In the middle of it all: Mayor Andre Sayegh and city officials, riding through, waving to residents, then leading the flow of people toward the steps of City Hall for the main event — the tree lighting.

This wasn’t just about lights. It was about showing the city off to itself — a reminder that downtown isn’t dead, it’s the stage.

CITY HALL, REBOOTED IN GREEN AND GOLD

As dusk dropped over Market Street, City Hall transformed.

Holiday music bounced off the stone. The crowd tightened in, phones up, kids on parents’ shoulders. Santa made his appearance, there were rides, hot chocolate, and live performances keeping everyone warm while they waited for the countdown.

Then the moment.

The countdown hit zero.
The switch was thrown.

The Christmas tree outside City Hall exploded into color — a tower of green, gold, and white firing up against the night sky while the crowd roared and car horns joined in like an extra cheer section. For a few seconds, every person in that crowd was looking at the exact same thing, at the exact same time.

WHY THIS NIGHT MATTERS FOR PATERSON

On paper, it’s simple: a parade, a tree, some music.

In reality, it’s deeper:

• It puts City Hall back at the center of community life, not just paperwork and politics.
• It gives small businesses and food spots around Main and Market a surge of life as families grab a bite before or after.
• And for one night, Paterson isn’t defined by crime stats, potholes, or budget fights. It’s defined by families, lights, and kids screaming when they see Santa.

This is what civic muscle looks like.
Show up. Stand together. Make the city feel like it belongs to the people who actually live here.

THE STORY BEHIND THE LIGHTS

Events like this don’t fall out of the sky.

Behind the scenes, there are people:

• Planning routes and street closures
• Coordinating floats and performers
• Handling safety, fire, and police
• Knocking on doors and phones, telling residents and businesses, “Yes, we’re doing this again this year.”

You don’t see their names on the side of the tree. But you see their fingerprints all over the night.

A CITY THAT REFUSES TO GO DARK

Paterson has its problems. Nobody’s pretending otherwise.

But nights like this expose something the outside world never quite understands about this city:

• Paterson still believes in showing up in person
• Neighborhoods will still stand in the cold together for a shared moment
• Downtown refuses to be written off as a memory

The Parade of Lights and Tree Lighting isn’t just a holiday event. It’s a yearly statement:

Paterson is not waiting for someone else to give it a better story.
It’s writing its own — one lit-up float, one crowded sidewalk, one city hall tree at a time.