A feast for the senses in Stamford
Maggie Gordon
Updated 10:22 pm, Saturday, September 22, 2012
The building is illuminated during a ceremony for the launch of Stamford Lights, an outdoor art project at the Stamford Train Station on Saturday, September 22, 2012. The display is a permanent exhibition which will be expanded to include more sides of the train station in the months to come. Photo: Lindsay Niegelberg
With seven events to cover in 10 hours, I found myself fully absorbed in Stamford on Saturday as I tasted, touched, listened to, saw and smelled the city I call home.
See. Neon lights danced across the façade of the Stamford train station shortly after 8:30 Saturday night, as the city celebrated the official lighting ceremony of what Mayor Michael Pavia called the city's hub. The lighting was paid for through a state grant that offered Stamford $143,000 to display art in a public place. While six other cities were also awarded the grant to create art in various forms, for Stamford the idea was always to light up the train station, creating a "you are here" sign over the City That Works on a map of the Eastern Seaboard. "This plaza where we're standing tonight is the hub of all of the economic activity that takes place in our city. And what better way to fire the engines ... what better way than through art?" Pavia asked a crowd of about 150 people who gathered at the station's north entrance where Pavia flicked the switch.
And the train station lighting was only the headliner in a day packed full of events all over the city. Throughout the course of the day, the city hosted seven events in honor of the third day of the StamfordLights Festival Weekend.