On Thursday, November 30, The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art and the City of Winter Park will present the 45th Annual Christmas in the Park in downtown Winter Park.
The free outdoor event begins at 6:15 p.m. when seven century-old Tiffany leaded-glass windows transform Central Park into a luminous concert hall for the Bach Festival Society Choir, Youth Choir, and Brass Ensemble. The choral performance concludes about 8 p.m., and the windows remain lighted for viewing until 8:30 p.m. Blankets and lawn chairs may be set up beginning at 4 p.m. after the windows are installed.
Begun in 1979, Christmas in the Park was conceived by Jeannette Genius McKean (1909–89) and Hugh F. McKean (1908–95) to share part of their rare Tiffany collection with the public in an informal setting. The windows displayed at Christmas in the Park are memorials with religious themes designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany’s firm for installation in the chapel at the Association Residence for Respectable, Aged, Indigent Females (1814–1974) in New York City.
For the 45th year of the event, the Morse will install its windows and present the Bach Festival Society Choir, Youth Choir, and Brass Ensemble in concert. The city will oversee arrangements for park use, security, crowd management, traffic control, and road closures.
The Morse Museum is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933). The Museum’s holdings also include American art pottery, late 19th- and early 20th-century American paintings, graphics, and history of design objects. New exhibitions include Fascinating Clutter: American Taste during the Reign of Victoria and the American Arts & Crafts Movement.
Museum hours from November through April are 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday; 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday; and l p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Regular admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $1 for students, and free for children under 12. All visitors receive free admission from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Fridays from November through April. For more information about holiday celebrations at the Morse Museum, please visit morsemuseum.org. For more information regarding events in the City of Winter Park, please visit the city’s website at cityofwinterpark.org.