St. Johns Town Center Holiday Spectacular

This Saturday, the family and I went to the St. Johns Town Center Holiday Spectacular. I think this is going to become an annual tradition to kick off the Christmas season in my family. The event was awesome! We were able to shop, have a dinner out, browse local art, climb around in some boats (I'll explain), and of course watch some amazing live music! We saw a huge Christmas tree being lit against a backdrop of fireworks. On top of everything else, I got to meet and have a picture with the event headliner, Vertical Horizon! In short, it was a night I will never forget. (To read my interview with lead singer, Matt Scannell, click here ).

I have to admit, that one of my fears about going to this event was that it would be absolutely crowded. I was afraid that parking would be a nightmare and we would be unable to get in anywhere to eat or shop. I was also afraid that the area where the stage was set up would be so crowded that we would have trouble even watching the live music.

I'm happy to admit that I was wrong about all of that. Although this was a very popular event and it was crowded, St. Johns Town Center is so huge, that there was plenty of room for everyone. We arrived at the Town Center in the late afternoon. Parking wasn't too bad and only took about five minutes. We were able to park pretty close to all the main action.

The entire event was centered around the Town Center's 32 foot Holiday Tree, which was in the center of the courtyard right outside Maggiano's. Situated in front of the tree was a stage, and there were huge TV screens set up where people could watch the stage action from several different vantage points. For several blocks around that main courtyard, traffic was blocked, so the entire event had the feel of a huge block party. Along the streets were tents that housed artists, jewelry makers, local businesses like dance studios, and even food vendors like Cantina Laredo and Renna's Pizza. There was also a huge kids section filled with bounce houses and face painters. We even spotted a place where kids could take pictures with Santa. Another really cool area was the Ashley's furniture area -- a roped off party, complete with what looked like a full bar, and lots of beds, couches, and chairs to relax on with a big flat screen TV to watch.

In the center of it all was a huge setup from Marine Max of like, 6 boats that kids and parents were free to climb in. This was an immediate attention grabber for Jim and Christian, and they scrambled up into the driver's seat of the largest of the boats while I continued looking around. I stopped by a huge Jacksonville Sharks display as well as a Jacksonville Jaguars set up. I apparently missed it, but some players and cheerleaders had made appearances earlier in the day. Mobile Health Vans from St. Vincents (the biggest sponsor of the evening) and Baptist Health Care were parked along the streets, and I also spotted several local radio stations.

In short, this was a HUGE EVENT. And it was 100% FREE! There were never really any lines for anything either. Each thing we wanted to do or see, we were able to just walk right up. St. Johns Town Center is just so huge, that I'm sure it's used to accommodating crowds. I went to the tree lighting ceremony at the Jacksonville Landing two years ago, (you can read about it here ) and it was fun, but it was so packed that you could barely move.

Not the case tonight... walking around was easy. I was able to walk right up to the huge Holiday Tree, and the stage. I was able to get in and out of the stores easily as well. I picked up a huge holiday candle from Bath and Body Works (you have to check out their "Fresh Balsam" scent! It smells just like a live Christmas tree!)

Soon the guys were all done looking at the boats, and we headed toward the Holiday Tree to meet up with a PR professional named Jamie. She was going to hopefully help me get the chance to meet Vertical Horizon! Jamie helped coordinate the phone interview with lead singer Matt Scannell that I mentioned earlier. The whole thing was a dream come true for me -- I'm a huge Vertical Horizon fan. Their song "Everything You Want" topped the charts in 1999 and 2000 and is one of my all time favorite songs. They also play several other big hits including "You're a God", "I'm Still Here," and "The Best I Ever Had".

While we waited for Jamie, Christian got to meet a few furry friends -- Clifford the Big Red Dog, and a Chick-fil-a cow dressed up in a Santa suit that Christian called "the Christmas Cow".

Jamie was great. She was so nice. She had already read my piece about the Matt Scannell interview and had a lot of sweet things to say about it. She got me a "VIP" badge and whisked me back to a meeting room inside Carabbas where there was a small party going on. She set me up with a spot in a line of fans waiting to meet the band.

Minutes later, I was meeting and having my picture taken with Vertical Horizon! It was so surreal... even now, I can hardly believe it happened. All of them were just so nice, and Matt hugged me several times and told me how great I did in my interview with him. It can't be said enough, Matt is just such a great guy!

I stumbled out of the party after that, totally starstruck and in disbelief about all of it. From there, the fam and I set out to find somewhere to have dinner. There was a pretty long wait for the major restaurants near the block party, like the Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs, but we were able to walk up to The Grape (a charming little wine bistro) and sit at a table outside.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous! So Jim, Christian and I sat at the table, and enjoyed a nice dinner while watching the happy crowd drift by.

Jim smiled at me from across the table. "You look content," he observed.

"I'm beyond content!" I beamed, "I've just met Vertical Horizon, had a great day with my family, and now I have a glass of fabulous Chardonnay and I'm people watching at a huge Jacksonville event on a beautiful November evening. I'm totally sublimely happy."

After dinner, we headed back to the main square just in time for Vertical Horizon to take the stage. They thanked the crowds and the event sponsors, and got started playing. They played "The Best I Ever Had", which is a really pretty song. After enjoying success as a pop hit, it was redone by Gary Alan and became a big Country hit.

Matt's voice was even more beautiful singing live than I could imagine. The radio really doesn't do him justice. I was watching him sing in front of this big cheering crowd and trying to convince myself that I really did just meet him an hour earlier.

He sang a few Christmas songs like "The Little Drummer Boy," and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". I have to admit here, that it isn't exactly easy to get me into the Christmas spirit. I usually get annoyed if anyone so much as mentions Christmas before Thanksgiving. But slow dancing with Christian while listening to Christmas music and looking at the glittering lights strung around the courtyard against the backdrop of the night sky .... it was awesome. It made me remember the way I used to feel about Christmas when I was little.

Matt paused between songs to tell a story about one of his songs called "The Man That Would Be Santa."

"There was a time in my life where I was having a difficult time with my father. We were fighting about something then that now neither of us can remember. But during that time in my life, I was going to school in Washington, D.C. and my parents were living in Maine. So, I worked all day on this song, and I finished it at like, 9:00 at night. I got in my car, and drove all night, back to my parents house. I arrived at I think 5;00 in the morning. My Dad answered the door and at first he was a little freaked out, I mean here's his son who should be in Washington D.C. standing on his doorstep at 5 in the morning. The first thing he said was 'Matt? Are you okay?' and then I said 'I will be after I sing you this song...'"

I was of course impressed with this story, and I thought about how Matt had explained in the interview that he uses songwriting to help him work through pain in his life. The song was really touching and inspiring. I also struggle with a difficult relationship with my father, and I wish I was brave enough to drop everything and use my talent and creativity to work through it in the way Matt did.

After he finished that song, he started to tell us another story. "So, a few years later, I was living in New York, in a small apartment I could barely afford, chasing my dream. One night I was sleeping and I woke up and this guitar riff came to me..." he started to play a few of the beginning notes of his HUGE chart-topping hit "Everything You Want".

The entire crowd, (me included) went wild. He went on to explain the way each part of the song came to him in his sleep, and the way he put the song together. Then he rocked the crowd with an incredible performance of the band's supernova hit. I had tears in my eyes the entire time.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. When the final notes of the song were played, to the wild cheers of the very enthusiastic crowd, the huge tree in the center of the courtyard was lit up, and an awesome fireworks show lit up the night sky.

It's an evening I won't ever forget. I think any gifts I get for Christmas will probably be overkill at this point. Having such an amazing evening with my family in such an amazing city, and getting the chance of a lifetime to interview and meet one of my favorite bands -- all of it will be pretty hard to top. What a perfect time of the year to realize just how lucky and blessed I really am.

Bring on the Holidays!