The Green Bay Packers and Festival Foods are set to host the 16th annual Festival of Lights at Lambeau Field, Saturday, Dec. 3, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The family-themed event, free to the public, will begin at 5 p.m. in the Lambeau Field Atrium, and feature holiday movies and cartoons, holiday card making, area high school choirs performing holiday music and photo opportunities with Santa Claus.
Families will also have the chance to decorate cookies provided by Festival Foods. Attendees that would like to purchase gingerbread cookies at the event should note that the event is cashless.
Volunteers will also be on hand during the event to collect toys and donations for Toys for Tots. Families attending Festival of Lights are encouraged to donate new, unwrapped toys to help families in need this holiday season.
At 6:30 p.m. the event will move out onto Harlan Plaza for the formal lighting of the tree.
The tree has been chosen for the event and will be harvested the morning of Monday, Nov. 28, in Green Bay, and erected on Harlan Plaza. The decoration of the tree will follow later in the week with more than 10,000 lights. The winning tree was selected through a submission process in which fans submitted a photo of their tree and explained why it should be chosen.
Paula and Al VanderGrinten will donate their blue spruce tree to be on display at Lambeau Field this holiday season in memory of their son, Garrett, who was a lifelong Packers fan and passed away in 2019 from colon cancer. The 45-foot tree was planted in the spring of 2000 after Paula and Al received the tree from friends as a gift. It started out at three feet tall and has been growing outside their Green Bay home ever since.
In recognition of providing the tree for the event, the VanderGrintens will receive four tickets to the Packers-Vikings game on Jan. 1.
