2016 UPDATE / The landscape at Naper Settlement near the Martin Mitchell Mansion now glistens after dark certain evenings with another holiday display of Naper Lights, a gift to the community from the Rotary Club of Naperville-Sunrise. The colorful illumination continues from 5-9PM Thursday through Saturday evenings and 5-7PM on Sundays in December and continuing through Dec. 31. For 2016, the magical light show is complimented by Christkindlmarket, 11AM-7PM Thursdays, 11AM-9PM  Fridays and Saturdays and 11AM-6PM on Sundays.
2014 UPDATE / After dark on weekends beginning  Nov. 28, 2014, the Rotary Club of Naperville/Sunrise will host Naper Lights at Naper Settlement, Chicagoland’s outdoor history museum. Admission is free of charge. Naper Settlement is located on 13 acres near downtown Naperville.  Find the entrance at the Pre-Emption House at Aurora Avenue and Webster Street.
2013 Debut / Central Park is aglow this holiday season, thanks to the Rotary Club of Naperville/Sunrise exhibit of Naper Lights. Colorful light displays sponsored by several Naperville businesses invite visitors to stroll every evening through New Year’s Day. The recent snow has created a glistening winter wonderland for all ages to enjoy after dark.
The illumination of the city’s oldest downtown park is just steps from a warm beverage at Quigley’s Irish Pub or Catch 35 as well as all the shopping, dining and many other seasonal happenings in downtown Naperville.
According to organizers, additional light displays will dot the landscape every year for the next five years. Be sure to experience the 2013 Naper Lights, then watch it grow from year to year.
Central Park, another gem in downtown
Central Park is best known as the home of the Naperville Community Concert Center and a series of outdoor summer concerts performed by the Naperville Municipal Band. The “band shell” as it’s affectionately called, conjuring up images of previous outdoor performance stages, is the year-round indoor rehearsal facility for the band as well as the Young Naperville Singers. located at 104 E. Benton, just west of North Central College, home of the Cardinals, in the heart of downtown Naperville.
Surrounded by historic monuments and memorials that date back to the Black Hawk Wars in the 1830s, the Concert Center is designed to accommodate performing arts groups; providing a large performance stage that opens into the park, acoustic equipment, rehearsal and meeting space and dressing rooms. It’s huge stage door is emblazoned with a Century Walk mural, the Great Concerto to dramatize the colorful history of the city’s band that dates back to 1859. Last spring, public restrooms were added to Central Park.
And for the first time, this holiday season the Rotary Club of Naperville/Sunrise has illuminated Central Park with attractive light displays and tiny bright white lights wrapped around trees. Thanks for supporting the arts!
RELATED POST: Â Preview of Naper Lights at the Naperville Woman’s Club
