Tradition: Support your local leg lamp lighting
An image of the iconic leg lamp when it returned to its original location at 90 Main Street in Northport Village last year. This year's celebration is scheduled for Saturday, November 25. Photo courtesy of The Firefly Artists.
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The annual Northport Leg Lamp Lighting is ten days away, and the many folks who help run the event are looking for an early gift in the form of donations to help the show go on.
The leg lighting returns to The Firefly Artists in Northport Village next Saturday, November 25, continuing a tradition that began in 2005, shortly after brothers Billy and Jimmy Reichart discovered the leg – a replica of the lamp famously featured in the 1983 holiday movie classic “A Christmas Story” – while cleaning out the basement of their family-owned and operated Northport Hardware Company. That small, mostly spontaneous celebration quickly grew into a highly anticipated annual event, with festivities that drew in hundreds of spectators every year.
After a short hiatus, the lighting ceremony and accompanying celebration returned last year to the old hardware store, a space The Firefly Artists took over in October 2022. On incredibly short notice, the Fireflies arranged a major celebration that included, thanks to the generosity of sponsors, local business owners and private citizens, professional audio visual services, entertaining performances and the lighting of the iconic lamp, of course.
The group of talented artists at the Firefly are dedicated to continuing the tradition, and being stewards of the event – and the joy it brings the entire community.
Costs to run the show, however, have tripled this year, Katheryn Laible, managing partner at the Firefly, told the Journal. The biggest expense to run the event is the audio/visual equipment: “Even with generous homegrown talent that basically acts as a sponsor, it costs a baseline of $4,500 to light up our Village and make sure everyone can hear,” Laible said.
Connolly Music of East Northport has stepped up to help sponsor the event, and a GoFundMe to help defray additional costs was set up last week; the gallery is taking cash and check donations at its Main Street location as well. All Leg Lamp Fund donations will go toward A/V costs and other event considerations.
Last year’s extravaganza of acts are all returning, including performances by the Northport Tigerettes, Posey School of Dance, and the Community Playhouse of Northport. There may even be some special surprises, teased Laible. Northport Shipwreck Diner will be providing hot cocoa, and many Main Street shops will stay open late.
“We want to tell the world it takes a Village to have all this good stuff, and we’re blessed with one of the best ones ever,” Laible told the Journal. Laible’s recap of last year’s event, with a list of all the local merchants who made it possible, can be found here.
This year’s leg lighting ceremony begins at 6:30pm, with an open house reception and community-wide raffle of gifts from local merchants to follow inside Firefly. To donate to the leg lamp fundraiser, click here.
