Note: Soul Sessions is produced as a podcast first and designed to be listened to. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes the emotion and inflection meant to be conveyed by human voice. Our transcripts are created using human transcribers, but may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio before quoting.

PAUL:

It's become a Jackson holiday tradition and it's happening on December 6th. Hey, it's Paul Wolf for the front-row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places and events that make the City With Soul shine. On today's show, Lynsie Armstrong is the event coordinator for Capital City Lights held in partnership with Visit Jackson and Downtown Jackson Partners. This year, the event expands but condenses, offering more in a smaller footprint for a fun-filled night for all ages.

This is the fourth year for Capital City Lights, and we have brought you in this year to be the event coordinator, the event guru, to help us kind of reimagine what this looks like. So I'm kind of curious, how did you approach this from the start? What was your methodology when you first sat down to the table to talk about Capital City Lights?

LYNSIE:

I think the biggest thing was making it feel a little bit more intimate and highlighting one of the most beautiful streets, in my opinion, in downtown Jackson. And so it's not lost on us that a lot of people just don't come downtown. And so there's just opportunity to really highlight its beauty and what makes it Jackson, you know? And I love that this event brings people from all over all the way up to 39110 to 39042 and every other zip code in between and that's what's really special about it. We just really wanted it to feel festive. We want the streets to be lit. We're going to be decorating as much as we possibly can. And then just kicking off the season and shrinking the footprint, but packing it with lots of good activity and activation was the idea to keep people from having to walk so far. You know, know families with strollers and people of all abilities will have ease of navigating through the event.

We're starting near the Faulkner and we're going to take it to the Governor's Mansion. The Governor's Mansion already activates a ton that night, so we're just adding two and just supplementing already what's happening there. And then MDAH does their tours around downtown, and so that will be on our route as well. So these things are already happening that night, but just taking it up a notch of just bringing back the Magnolia Marketplace. We're very excited about Thabi and her team being there, which is going to add that perfect just holiday shopping component from all of these local makers that are just really talented and incredible.

PAUL:

You mentioned kind of condensing things, kind of packing more into a tighter spot. You know, in years past, we have encouraged people to walk over to the Art Museum and to walk to the Westin. And there are still some of those great things going on that night, but the Capital City Lights event itself will be this, this little gem of a spot as if you, you wandered up on, on a Hallmark movie in the middle of downtown, right? Because I think people remember you, Lynsie, hopefully they remember from all of your days at Highland Village, where you put together so many festive yet intimate, cozy fun events.

LYNSIE:

Thank you. Yes. And bringing some of those ideas that I'd had in those times to this event, bringing back some goodies, like we're going to have a typewriter poet and some caricature artists, or even bringing, this is going be a new edition, but Skate JXN, which they came out for 601 Day, but they're going to come and play with us in the middle of Capitol Street that night. And then, have you heard of Cruisin’ on Capitol?

PAUL:

Yeah.

LYNSIE:

So they're going to be there that night with all of their neat cars. And that's just some different activations that we've wanted to see added to the table this year. And then of course, like as we're brainstorming and some things, some of these great ideas that have been around the table, we have a really great team around the table pulling this event off. And we're just like, ‘man, we got to cap it right now. We can't do it this year,’ but for 2025, like I can't wait. We're going to have some really cool additions that we will not be speaking of just yet, but we've got plenty of new stuff for this year, but we're already planning for next year, too, which is exciting.

PAUL:

Yeah. See to me, that seems amazing to kind of conjure up what this whole event is going to be about because you say there's all this new stuff, but it's going into a tighter footprint. So I think it's going to feel like it's a packed out night for families and for friends to just come out and celebrate. We're downtown on December 6th for Capital City Lights, we might get hungry while we're there too, Lynsie. So is there anything to eat that night?

LYNSIE:

Yes, we're going to have food vendors throughout the Magnolia Marketplace footprint, as well as some other food trucks. And we've invited several of our local eateries that are downtown to come join us. And it is a busy time of year. So we're still waiting to see how we can work some of those out, but we want people to get a taste of Jackson.

And not just, you know, in addition to everything else they're going to experience, but that's a really big part of it. So yes, there will be food available. There'll be snacks and some pop-up bars all throughout the event, sponsored by some of our local distributors that we work with and sort of wine garden type experiences. I know Capitol City Pride is going to be back out with their pop-up bar, which is always a big hit. Truly, there'll be something for everybody's taste that night.

PAUL:

If I'm looking forward to that Friday night in downtown Jackson, and as you said, there's a whole lot going on in the city, overall. There's also the Mississippi Department of Archives and History’s Christmas by Candlelight. That's a big part of our event too, isn’t it?

LYNSIE:

Yes. Their event is so special. There was no need to compete with it. Like let's just bring it all together and just make this moment that there's so many people that come again from all over to do that tour every year. So capitalizing on those amazing families already being down here, let's just add to it. And the more the merrier. And we're working… like each year, the area hotels and the museums around us, too, will participate. Whether it is that they have something going on in their space that night, or they might be popping up, a lot of our downtown businesses and organizations are gonna be actually popping up on Capitol Street, even Visit Jackson. So usually there's an open house in your beautiful space, but this year, you guys are gonna have a pop-up on the street with some really cool things that we're gonna leave as a surprise. So, but it's gonna be fun. So we're excited. And that's also just gonna just add to it and just give all these people an opportunity to talk about what they get to do and invite them into their business, but also just keeping again the intimacy of the event on Capitol street.

PAUL:

Yeah. I love that in years past, we've sent folks, you know, around the corner or down the block and, maybe you make it down there. Maybe you don't. So this gets everybody onto the same playing field, so to speak. And gosh, comic books from Offbeat and Thimblepress with their cards and then maybe even the Art Museum at a pop-up shop like last year? Could we expect to see some of those return?

LYNSIE:

Yes, for sure. As well as like we're going to have Critter Kings come out with their exotic petting zoo activation. There's going be all kinds of emergency vehicles all around the footprint for kids to explore and enjoy. We have our fingers crossed for one particular vehicle. So we're just… I can't say that just yet but I want to so bad, but I can't.

PAUL:

You're teasing us! We'll just have to show up now that night so we can see it.

LYNSIE:

Yeah. We're really excited about it. Soul Santa is gonna be there that night and he's gonna be set up for photo ops and just getting to see the kiddos. There's gonna be letters to Santa that you can personally give to him while you're there that night. But in addition to that, he's going to be collecting toys through Operation Shoestring that evening. So bring your kiddos to see Santa and drop off those donations and just come and to eat, drink and be merry.

PAUL:

Okay, so I work for Visit Jackson. This is our event and even I was not privy to all these details until now. You all have been working so hard behind the scenes and I'm excited for December 6th for Capital City Lights on Capitol Street between the Faulkner and the Governor's Mansion.

PAUL:

Lynsie, I guess last but not least in event of this magnitude is something that we would expect to pay a little bit of a ticket price to attend, but this one absolutely free.

LYNSIE:

It's free. Yes, free for the whole family. And it's the perfect opportunity to, it's going to be family geared, but also like date night, girls night, guys night, know, family night, whatever you want it to be. It is going to be that night for everybody. And that's what's fun about it. Like there really is generally going to be something for everybody.

PAUL:

That's Lynsie Armstrong with a look at the 4th annual Capital City Lights. It's December 6th. We talked about so much, but we didn't work in all the details. So you'll just have to keep watching the web. We'll keep you updated all the way into the event date in our show notes at visitjackson.com/soulsessions or capitalcitylightsJXN.com.

Our podcast is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus and Dr. Ricky Thigpen and I'm our managing editor.

Do you want to know more about the great work we're doing to spotlight all of the good happening in Jackson, Mississippi? You can find it at visitjackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf, and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

Listen to previous episodes of Soul Sessions