Kicking off with the lighting of a massive menorah at sundown, the Chanukah Festival of Lights at Bayshore claims to be the largest public celebration of the Jewish holiday in Wisconsin. The lively evening features Jewish music, dancing, kosher treats, activities and the highly anticipated gelt drop – when kids catch chocolate coins falling from a fire engine ladder.
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The festival, now in its fifth year at Bayshore, is one of the largest events for Lubavitch of Wisconsin, an Orthodox Jewish non-profit organization that supports all Jews across the state. Director of events Lauren Balda says that although Chanukah is a traditional Jewish holiday, the festival is open to people of all backgrounds. Because of this, one mission for the festival is to educate those who may be unfamiliar with Jewish culture.
“We try to make the traditional aspects very simple, so that it’s digestible and understandable for the modern-day general community,” Balda says. “It’s extremely important and vital to the Jewish community to hold all of the historical traditions of a holiday. … We want other individuals to come in and share our world.”
This year, the menorah lighting will be taking place on the true first day of Chanukah. Balda explains that Jewish holidays start the night before and go until sundown at the end of the holiday, lasting anywhere from 24 hours to seven days.
“Sometimes we have to do it in the middle of the holiday, (when) four candles are already lit on the menorah, and we’re lighting the fifth,” Balda says. “So that is a really exciting part this year.”
For kids, there will be plenty of family-friendly games and art projects; for adults, there will be cocktails and interactive activities.
“We make it appealing for every age and every stage of where someone’s at in their life,” Balda says. “We really want to just bring in the warmth and light.”
The festival is from 4-7 p.m. on Dec. 14.
