The Rowan University and Glassboro communities were brought together yet again in a fun filled holiday celebration. The Boro in Lights is an annual holiday celebration held on the new expansion of Rowan Boulevard Friday, Dec. 7. 

The entire street of Downtown Glassboro was blocked off allowing for vendors such as Student Government Association (SGA) and their stuff the bus, Wawa handing out free pretzels and the Kingsway Church handing out free hot chocolate along the street. Santa and Mrs. Claus were also present with their North Pole hut where kids could go visit. 

Jenna Day, a junior marketing major and assistant vice president for University Advancement for SGA, was manning the SGA tent during Boro in Lights to help the shop get donations for their Stuff the Bus. 

“We’re here for Boro in Lights in order to bridge the gap between, to advocate for SGA and the shop, the shop is our on campus food pantry,” Day said. “It stands for Students helping other profs and it’s a resource for students who just cant make ends meet. They can always stop there and just grab a box of pasta or a can of soup, whatever they might need to get them through the week because student hunger is a really big problem on a lot of campuses and it gets ignored so we make sure that the shop is a resource for all of our students and we host events all throughout the year to make sure its always stocked and accessible for our students.”

Not only does Boro in Lights help spread holiday cheer, but it also helps to bring the Rowan and Glassboro communities together. 

“I really like it [Boro in Lights], I think the town has done some awesome things with their events recently like the car show in the beginning of the year, I think all of these events have been run really well,” Day said. 

Not only did the event have Santa and the lighting of the tree, but there was a Bryant Park vibe with the blow up snow globe where people could go inside and get their pictures taken.

Next to the Christmas tree, there was a manger scene where people could dress up as Mary and Joseph while holding a babydoll Jesus. Right next to the manger scene was a real life petting zoo featuring a miniature pony, sheep and even a pig. 

People could keep warm by the fire pit that was lit and roaring along with the free hot chocolate, the holiday cheer was definitely felt. 

Live performances were held on the stage in the middle of the intersection on Rowan Boulevard as well. Profecy A Cappella, the Glassboro marching band and other live performers played all throughout the night. 

Zack Spencer, a senior history major and president of Profecy A Cappella, performed a mixture of all holiday songs with the group.

“This is one [performance] we’ve done before so were pretty comfortable with the setting and it was fun, I think it went well, the crowd liked it and all of our guys had fun with it,” Spencer said. “It doesn’t feel like we’re almost at the end of the fall semester and its almost Christmas until Boro in Lights.” 

Glassboro felt the holiday cheer this past Friday, with the celebration of Christmas cheer. 

“Boro in Lights does a really good job of bringing the Glassboro community and the Rowan community closer together because aside from Back to the Boro in the spring we don’t really have many events like that so I think that having events like this is really cool and really important,” Spencer said. 

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