Bloomington, IN: Canopy of Lights

The day after Thanksgiving is known as Christmas around these parts. We put up our tree, decorated it, and put out some more decorations before heading to downtown Bloomington to see the Canopy of Lights.

There were so many people, as well as lots of music, candy canes, and hot chocolate. Not Christmas-related but very cool was that the night sky was perfectly clear and someone had set up a very large telescope next to the courthouse so anyone who wanted to could check out Venus (it looks like a crescent moon)!

We got downtown around 6:30 (the website said the lighting was going to happen at 7) and wandered around listening to carolers. The Visit Bloomington holiday event guide let us know the courthouse was open and had a 40-ft decorated tree inside, so we went to check that out:

How beautiful, right? I hadn't been inside the Monroe County Courthouse before, and it's gorgeous!

We could even walk up to the second and third stories of the rotunda to see the tree from different heights.

We finished looking at the tree a few minutes before 7, thinking the lighting would happen soon. Well...the lighting didn't actually happen until around 7:30. People did thank-yous, performances, and a lot of talking before we got to see the lights :) We stood outside by College Ave and couldn't really see or hear anything going on, until a countdown started...