Every year since 1985, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Pine Plains comes together for its annual Town Decorating Day and Parade of Lights — traditions that have brightened the dark weeks before the winter solstice for four decades.
This year, Nov. 29 marked the 40th celebration, a milestone that drew families, longtime residents, and newcomers to the heart of town for an evening defined by community spirit and warmth.
The event is organized by the Pine Plains Business Association Decorating Committee and sponsored by dozens of local businesses and community organizations.
Volunteers spent the afternoon stringing lights along storefronts, decorating a plethora of pines placed thoughtfully in planters, and wrapping evergreens around lampposts, transforming the center of Pine Plains into a glowing corridor of holiday cheer.
By dusk, crowds lined the sidewalks as fire trucks, tractors, and floats — all decked out in lights — began their festive procession, warming hundreds of hearts in the heart of Pine Plains.
