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West Palm Wonderland: Explore Holiday Spectaculars! · Inside West Palm Beach

8:05:49
Welcome to the City Center Podcast. I'm
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Gerry Marcelo. The holiday
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season is a time for tradition.
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In West Palm Beach, the tradition is to
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come downtown and enjoy
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the sights and sounds of the
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waterfront glittering with holiday magic.
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On the City Center Podcast,
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we'll talk about what's in
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store during winter in paradise and how
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you can make the most of
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the holiday visit downtown.
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Coming up next.
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[Music]
8:06:16
Joining me today is Angela Poco,
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marketing and community events manager
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for the City of West
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Palm Beach. Angela, welcome. Thank you
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for having me. It's that holiday season
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again. There's a lot
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going on at West Palm Beach. There sure
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is. And it seems like it grows every
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season. There's more
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and more stuff. Tell us a little bit. So
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I think it does, but you are
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100% right. There's just so
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much more to downtown than just our tree
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lighting on the 4th. As you
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know, the art tree goes all the
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way through December 31st. But in between
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there, there are little bursts of
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spectacular all throughout
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the city. And so again, I think I like to
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say Sandy starts it. She
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kicks it off in the beginning. So
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that starts on December 4th. Then after
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that, if you want to come
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down and visit if you're not
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into the tree lighting thing, but you
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want to see it while it's still fresh,
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you know, you've got
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the Ferris wheel, right? You've got the
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Sandy. If you come down at
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630, you can do Sandy's Symphony
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of Lights, which is a special show that
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takes place at 630 nightly for
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a half an hour. And it's just
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instrumental music and light. So it
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really showcases her outer
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beauty with all of her lights.
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We're talking about Sandy. Let's jump
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back for those who may not be
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aware. Who is Sandy? Tell us
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how she seemed to be. It's so funny. You
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know, I don't even think
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about that. For me, she's just
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Sandy. So she is our 35 foot tall. And
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I'm going to say she's
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probably pushing closer to 800 tons
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this year of sand spectacular. She is
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beautiful. And she brings
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joy to everyone that sees her,
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even through her construction period. But
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she's all 100% sand, Sandy sand,
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actually, she is recycled
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sand from all Sandy years past. And then
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there's four other little piles of
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spectacularness as well.
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Piles of spectacularness. I love it. You
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really have to see it. And
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then, you know, she also has
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a Ferris wheel into little Ferris. That's
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fantastic. So when we talk about Sandy,
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she's all encompassing when it comes to
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the holidays. And we'll
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be showing some pictures of
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Sandy as she's being put together and how
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she looks in the daytime. She's
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spectacular. But some
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of the real magic happens at night. It
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does. It does. But like, just to, I
8:08:37
really want people to
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understand this. She is 100% sand. Okay.
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Because I've been watching
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some of her social feeds,
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because, you know, she's really social.
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And there's some people out there that
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think she's got wood
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inside of her. And if you watch the whole
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process from start to
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finish, it really is spectacular.
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They do form her up with forms of wood
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that goes around and they tamper the sand
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to keep her all nice and tight and not
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moving. And then they peel it
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back layer by layer and they
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start to sculpt her. And that's really
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where the magic starts. And
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then I always say her fairy dust
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comes on after all the lights have been
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programmed. So she is
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solid sand. Solid sand.
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And how, maybe I shouldn't be asking this
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question, but, you know,
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it does rain sometimes.
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It does.
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How do you deal with that?
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So it's a unique fill sand. It's not like
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your typical beach sand.
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The stuff that's across the
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way of the smaller sculptures, that's a
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little bit different sand,
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but her sand, it's more fine.
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So when they tamp it, it really does
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start to form that sand castle feature
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where it tightens up.
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And then, believe it or not, it's about a
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gallon of Elmer's glue that
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maybe they use, but it's like
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a cap full to this big backpack spray
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thing. And when they're done
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sculpting, they just give it a
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light mist. And our sun, it must be like,
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you know, her moisturizer. I
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don't know, but it just kind of
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like sets everything. She's got her own
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setting powder, I guess.
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And Elmer's glue is just basically
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biodegradable. It's what people played
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with back in the country.
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Why the fence is there? Because people
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think that she's really not
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sand and then they're like,
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let's just see what... And she does give.
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So we do try to protect
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her. The fence is there for a
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reason. And we want people to enjoy it
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for the whole month of
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December. So we want people to
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come out and enjoy it and see it and take
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your photos. Don't go in it.
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Don't climb. Don't be climbing on sand.
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That would be bad.
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That would be a bad idea.
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Okay. So filling in the gaps here, a
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first time visitor comes
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out later in the afternoon,
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early evening. We're going to be... What
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are they waiting for? Is the
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sun coming down? What's going
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on? So her shows start at six. So she is
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very prompt. Okay. Then
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Sandy's Synchrony of Lights
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is 6.30. So I just say definitely stick
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around for that. Okay.
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There's usually two different light
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shows that happen throughout the night.
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So that's on the quarter
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hour. Definitely take a Ferris
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Wheel ride because that is the best view
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that you're going to see
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of our city. You'll see the
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tree, the inner coastal. It's gorgeous.
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Everything is lit up perfectly. We will
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have some food vendors
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out there. So, but if not, we have got so
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many amazing restaurants.
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Definitely get some food
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down here. But if you're not ready to go
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home yet and your family's
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looking for things to do,
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go over to the bend. There's ice skating
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there. So we have to
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see... Whoa, wait a minute. Ice
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skating in South Florida? Yeah. Just,
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there's ice skating rink at the bend.
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Okay. But then if you
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want a little bit more, go to city place
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because they've got the
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snow. So we've got sand, ice,
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and snow all within a five minute
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distance of each other. So
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there's things happening all over
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the downtown area. All over the downtown.
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And Nora's opening with
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new stuff as well. So it's
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to say that you could make a day of it is
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an understatement. You could literally do
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breakfast, lunch, dinner, and stay the
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whole day downtown. But if
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you're looking more for a family
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outing, I'd say come early evening, maybe
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grab some food before you
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come like on the street,
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you know, find one of the merchants down
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there. And then everything
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that you need is right by
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Sandy. Yeah. And go ice skating, go see
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the snow and their tree at
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city place. It's really a nice
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trip to do. So instead of a dinner and a
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movie, you could do dinner
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and Sandy. Absolutely. All
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right. So you can come down here, have a
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great time. What about
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parking? How else? So we've got
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plenty of garages and you know, there is
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street parking if you're
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planning on a short stay. But
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like the garages, you've got Banyan,
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you've got a Vernia city
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center if you're going to walk and
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it is gorgeous. There's a canopy of
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lights that the Downtown Development
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Authority does every year
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and it makes our downtown truly
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spectacular. And you know, I see so many
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people taking pictures in
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front of the fountain, in front of the
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tree on Klamata Street. We
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really are something to see
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and a destination to be seen. So, you
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know, enjoy it. It's up one
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time a year and truly enjoy it.
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And there are so many events that take
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place in the month of
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December just that we produce
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alone. You know, you've got your green
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markets every Saturday.
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That's right. So you get to enjoy
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the beauty of Sandy during the day.
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Amazing. This year coming right out,
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we've got Winter in Paradise
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at Heart and Soul Park. I was going to
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ask about Winter in
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Paradise. Now, this is a totally
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different sort of event, right? Yeah. So
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it features the historic
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Northwest, Heart and Soul.
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You know, it's nestled right off the,
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right off of Rosemary and it's truly an
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amazing park and that
8:13:47
neighborhood truly owns that event, which
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is I think what makes it
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just a great event, you know,
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and it's from five to nine and a lot of
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music. So that's definitely,
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you know, if you want music and
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fun atmosphere, beautiful park, that's
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something to do. Now that
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will continue. You can go visit
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that all through the season, right? So
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Heart and Soul Park is always
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open. But Winter in Paradise
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is that night, they light the park up.
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The park will be lit all
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month long. So, and we'll be
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going back to there. I'll tell you more
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of what we have going over there. Okay.
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But then the seventh,
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which is Sunday, is Sandy's Pancake
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Breakfast. Oh. That is a ticketed event,
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but I have to tell you
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with your family and you're looking for a
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lower cost thing to do,
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it's $18 a person, but you get
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a buffet of pancakes and eggs and sausage
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and bacon. And we had
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waffles last year, but if you
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want to get your picture taken with
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Santa, you can walk away with your
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picture with Santa. There's
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bounce houses. It's the only time that
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you can ride Ferris during the day. And
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let me just tell you
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too, if you're an adult looking for a
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great place to just go and experience
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this, we had last year,
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we had tables of two where adults came
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and hung out and did it. But
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it really is a unique thing
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that your family can enjoy. The kids get
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to take their time.
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There's no rushing them. It's all
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about them that day. And it's the only
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time that the Ferris wheel is
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open during the day. So, and
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tickets are going fast for that. It's a
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limited number. We only
8:15:20
have 250 seats and there's two
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seatings. So that's pretty amazing. While
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we're talking about
8:15:25
tickets, how would someone find out
8:15:27
about tickets? So wpe.org forward slash
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holiday. That will bring you
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right to our landing page and
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you can pick and choose all the different
8:15:35
things that you want to see.
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Also, we'll take you to all
8:15:38
the other things that are happening in
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the city. So I really feel this year
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we're trying to really
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showcase what the city has in general,
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because there's so much to
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do and so much to see that
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we want everybody to enjoy it. It's
8:15:50
tremendous. There's an
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incredible amount of things going on.
8:15:53
And it seems that folks could be coming
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multiple days and evenings
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to really enjoy stuff. And I
8:15:59
think they do because there's so much
8:16:00
going on that they come for
8:16:02
the tree lighting, but then
8:16:03
they come back for things that they might
8:16:05
have missed. And I just, I
8:16:08
love it. It truly is one of
8:16:09
my favorite times of the year that we get
8:16:11
to do this. And just to
8:16:12
be just for the record, the
8:16:14
the ice skating event at the bend, now
8:16:16
that's a private place. It
8:16:17
is, but it's open to the public
8:16:19
and like you, anybody can walk in. You
8:16:21
don't have to be a guest of
8:16:21
the hotel. The ice skating is
8:16:24
open to the public, which is fantastic.
8:16:27
And same with city place.
8:16:27
Like the tree is free there as
8:16:29
well. And they have a nightly snowfall,
8:16:31
which is really neat. Like
8:16:33
I've been enjoying that ever
8:16:34
since I first moved to Florida. So that's
8:16:36
really neat. So we have an
8:16:38
entire month of great things
8:16:39
that are going on, things for folks to
8:16:41
enjoy. Then of course, we've
8:16:43
run into New Year's Eve. Tell us
8:16:45
a little bit about New Year's Eve.
8:16:46
Absolutely. So this year we
8:16:49
were talking, the DDA and I,
8:16:54
we were having a casual conversation and
8:16:55
she said to me, Tanika
8:16:56
said, Angela, like what about
8:16:59
New Year's Eve this year? Our board's
8:17:01
asking for fireworks. And I
8:17:02
said, well, it's funny that you
8:17:03
say that we were thinking about doing
8:17:05
fireworks this year. So there, the
8:17:08
fireworks are presented
8:17:09
by the Downtown Development Authority.
8:17:11
So, but we're figuring,
8:17:13
let's just add some music to it.
8:17:15
So there'll be live entertainment at
8:17:17
eight o'clock. People come down anyways,
8:17:19
because they're waiting
8:17:20
to see if fireworks were going to take
8:17:21
place because the Island
8:17:22
used to do them. So we thought
8:17:25
instead of everybody sitting there and
8:17:26
being disappointed at the
8:17:27
end, even though we've got
8:17:28
signs everywhere that say no fireworks.
8:17:31
This year, we're going to give them a
8:17:33
short burst of fireworks
8:17:35
at midnight, but we've got entertainment
8:17:36
leading up to it. And then
8:17:38
a DJ right before to help us
8:17:40
kick off with the finale and it'll just
8:17:43
be spectacular. I was
8:17:45
going to say a fantastic
8:17:46
way to experience New Year's Eve, sort of
8:17:48
like Times Square except West Palm Beach.
8:17:52
Sand Square.
8:17:52
Sand Square.
8:17:54
Well, we've covered a lot of different
8:17:57
things. It's just a
8:17:57
tremendous amount going on.
8:18:00
Is there anything we've missed so far?
8:18:01
A few.
8:18:02
Tell us.
8:18:03
Well, we do have our green markets, like
8:18:04
I said, every Saturday. And then we have
8:18:05
Clamatus by night happening three times
8:18:07
that kicks off the tree
8:18:08
lighting. But I'd be remiss to say
8:18:10
we also have nights in Northwood, which
8:18:12
is the 12th. So that's going
8:18:15
to be pretty amazing in itself.
8:18:16
There's a live DJ and some other fun
8:18:19
things. That starts at six.
8:18:22
And if you haven't experienced
8:18:24
Northwood, it is so amazing in quaint and
8:18:27
put that on your bucket list
8:18:28
of things to do for the city.
8:18:31
Soul in the City goes back to the sunset
8:18:33
on the 17th. So we've got
8:18:35
that. And then rounding out
8:18:37
with Aloha Islanders, which has just
8:18:39
typically been our tradition on Sunday
8:18:41
the 21st, that's the
8:18:42
Polynesian themed. It's just so amazing.
8:18:47
If you want to feel like
8:18:48
you're in the tropics and you're
8:18:50
away just for a few hours, that's it.
8:18:53
That is so incredible to
8:18:54
watch that whole Polynesian show.
8:18:56
That's just tremendous. Now we've gone
8:18:57
through a lot of different
8:18:58
dates and a lot of things. I'm
8:19:00
sure people are scribbling stuff down. To
8:19:02
get all the information that
8:19:04
you need, you can go to the
8:19:05
website at wpb.org front slash holiday.
8:19:10
Holiday. Yeah, that makes
8:19:12
sense. And go ahead and check
8:19:13
things out and plan to come down early
8:19:17
and often. Early and often. I
8:19:20
really feel like you could do
8:19:22
it several times. Bring your family one
8:19:24
time, bring your friends
8:19:25
another. There's so much to do
8:19:27
downtown and I'd be remiss to say if you
8:19:31
didn't enjoy yourself, then
8:19:33
we are doing something wrong
8:19:34
because there's something for everyone
8:19:36
down. Indeed. Angela,
8:19:39
thank you for everything that
8:19:40
you do for the city and to your staff for
8:19:41
putting together such an amazing
8:19:43
cavalcade of events.
8:19:45
West Palm Beach is the place to be for
8:19:47
the holiday season. I think it is. I
8:19:49
think it's going to be
8:19:49
terrific. Any final thoughts? No, thank
8:19:52
you for having me. I love
8:19:53
the fact that we get to get
8:19:54
this out there so everybody can just
8:19:56
understand the joy that
8:19:57
we're trying to bring people.
8:19:58
Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for
8:20:02
joining us. The City Center podcast is
8:20:04
launching its second
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full year of video podcasts and we've got
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a lot in store for 2026.
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So feel free to follow or
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subscribe to get the latest from the city
8:20:13
of West Palm Beach. This has been a
8:20:15
production of the city
8:20:16
of West Palm Beach Communications
8:20:18
Department. I'm Jerry
8:20:20
Marcello. We'll see you next time.