The Roosevelt lights up the night at the annual lobby lighting

The Roosevelt hotel in New Orleans ignited the night on Tuesday, Dec. 3 with the annual lobby lighting. The lobby lighting has been a tradition at The Roosevelt since the 1930’s, signaling the start of the Christmas season. This years theme was Waldorf Wonderland. A play on winter wonderland and the Waldorf Astoria, a Hilton owned brand.

Each year for the past 89 years the Roosevelt staff gathers together and works some Christmas magic to pull off one of the most beautiful lobby decorations in the city of New Orleans. The staff works countless hours as they only have one week to prepare the decorations and set them up.

This year, there were 135,572 lights, 2,200 glass ornaments, 44 Christmas trees and 700 hand-tied bows, with more winter branch decor totaling 3,328 feet and nearly 20,000 lights added, it is an impressive amount of decorations for this dedicated staff to set up in a week. All of this combined totals around three street blocks of decoration.

The Roosevelt General Manager Todd Chambers said, “We have a great team here, but when the holiday’s start you can feel the pride in the building swell a little bit because it makes this place so special.”

Chambers has been the general manager for the Roosevelt since 2008, and has been in charge of the lobby lighting ever since.

How exactly does Chambers pull this off every year? He says, “It’s all about motivating the staff. They know they have a very important job to get done and so they do it. The people of New Orleans depend on them to make this a very special experience, and those in attendance today will tell you they have.”

The Roosevelt’s tradition of lighting the lobby also comes with its annual announcement of who will be speaking. The speaker for this year’s lobby lighting was Trombone Shorty, a New Orleans native, famous in the jazz community.

Troy Andrews, or how the city of New Orleans knows him, Trombone Shorty, was chosen because of his New Orleans heritage and advocacy for the city. His foundation, Trombone Shorty Foundation, has grown substantially in its five years. He advocates for children to recognize their talent and get them the resources they need.

Trombone Shorty started out the night by thanking the Roosevelt for inviting him back saying, “I’ve been trying to do this for at least 5 years and I’ve always been on tour and not home.”

Trombone Shorty’s role was to switch the light to “on” and turn on the lights, signaling the beginning of the Christmas season.

Before he could flip the switch, Chambers readied his champagne glass and told the crowd, “Enjoy the lights, enjoy the hotel, this is New Orleans hotel, its been here for 125 years.”

Shorty then flipped the switch and turned on all 135,572 lights. After he flipped the switch and toasted with the crowd, Shorty said, “It’s incredible to see all the lights come on and see everybody so excited.” Champagne was toasted and the guests were invited to explore the magnificent light show.

Kids and adults alike gazed at the beautiful lights and Christmas trees as they walked through the Waldorf Wonderland.

The lobby was packed to the brim, everybody watching as the Christmas season begins.

Employee Nadia Bordelon said, “It’s just a beautiful time of year and the Roosevelt really knows how to ring in the new season. All of this hard work and preparation looks to have paid off.”

The whole lighting only lasted about 15 or 20 minutes, but the week leading up to it was a long one. Bordelon said, “We’ve worked very hard to rush and get these decorations set in one week. It was stressful, but totally worth it.”

It was a big turnout for the Roosevelt, with almost all of the New Orleans news stations in attendance. Chambers and Trombone Shorty were extremely pleased with the result. With Shorty saying, “To see all the people of New Orleans and all the love and appreciation we show for one another, you can’t pay a million dollars for that feeling.”

The Waldorf Wonderland display will continue to amaze guests until January 4th, 2020. Until then, there is a choir and free gingerbread house each weekday for adults and kids to attend.