Last weekend Phillip and I decided to check out the lights at Glendale Glitters, the annual holiday celebration in the antiquey downtown of Glendale, Arizona (just west of Phoenix). On Friday and Saturday nights, there are also local dance troupes and singers performing at a main stage, food vendors, booths for local charities and retailers, and lots of activities for kids. Several of the retailers and restaurants stay open late (including a couple of the shops I’d discovered researching how to shop Arizona).
The closest parking costs $10. There are also some nearby side streets without houses or no parking signs, if you’re up for a little extra walking.
It’s an outside event. So, obviously, if you’re from Phoenix, bundle up. If you’ve travelled here from elsewhere, yes, you can laugh at the Phoenicians bundled up – as long as you come back to hike when it’s 93 degrees in May.
We didn’t know about the food vendors, so we had stopped for pho on the way over. Probably a healthier choice than we would’ve made if we had arrived hungry. (Hellooo, garlic cheese fries!)
And, in case you were wondering, yes, there’s beer. (Or, if you believe the signs, there’s beer beer beer. Beer.)
We also saw these two guys with rope leashes around massive animals, which the crowd gathering around them decided were wolves. They did not appear to be an official exhibit and aren’t mentioned on the event website. I guess if you had a pet wolf, what would you do? Take him to hang out at Glendale Glitters! (Wolves dig pretty lights. And small children.)
Glendale Glitters happens tonight (December 14) and next Friday and Saturday nights (December 20-21). I can’t guarantee there will be wolves when you go (I’m not even sure there were wolves when I went), but it’s a pretty safe bet that there will be lots of pretty lights, fried food, and small children. Oh and beer beer beer.
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