Christmas for the City lets me dance with friends and strangers – and feel a thrill of hope
By Lynn Felder
Colored lights flash, “Run Run Rudolph” by Chuck Berry blasts from speakers, and my heart sings, as excited dancers pour through the silver balloon arches onto the gleaming dance floor for the first-ever Christmas for the City Dance Party.
That was last year, 2025.
Christmas for the City is an occupation of the Benton Convention Center one day of the year by thousands of volunteers and event-goers. From brass bands on Fifth Street to silent prayer and meditation spaces to colorful Folklorico dancers in Piedmont Hall, the center is awash in the sights and sounds of the holidays.
In 2018, when I started writing for the Winston-Salem Journal about Love Out Loud’s annual holiday party, it never occurred to me that I would one day be a small part of this vast event.
But in 2022, my husband, David Rodwell, and I volunteered for CFTC for the first time. I hosted the Art Stage, which is housed in the large Visual Arts/Nonprofits room on the upper floor. David emceed the Main Stage on the lower floor, which also serves as the refreshment area where volunteers serve gallons of coffee and thousands of desserts to the party-goers.
I had a blast announcing the wonderful artists who volunteered to perform on the Art Stage: One Love from Greensboro; Spencer Aubrey, who did spoken word; a gospel choir; a student string quartet. I was in my own personal heaven.
We served from noon to 6 p.m., a long day for us, but even as we collapsed at home, we were making plans to do the same thing the next year. And we did.
In the fall of 2024, I experienced a bout of crippling sciatica that lasted about three months, so we were unable to be on site for CFTC that year. We were sad to miss it.
But that following spring, Chuck Spong, who produces the event, invited me to join the planning committee for 2025. With no idea what that would entail, I walked into the sanctuary of The Dwelling on Broad Street to find a room full of energetic folks from all over Winston-Salem, ready to embark on the next CFTC.
In addition to his decade-plus leadership of CFTC, Chuck had ushered the project through COVID, pivoting to a drive-through celebration at the Fairgrounds in 2020. In 2021, the event returned to the Benton Center, and attendance has gradually returned to pre-COVID numbers.
Last year, Chuck and the leadership team decided that it was time to look at what was being offered to the community at CFTC, what was still effective and fun, and what was needed to keep things fresh for everybody involved.
In a brainstorming session that day at The Dwelling, Chuck asked for our wildest dreams. If we could have anything at this big old party, what would it be?
When my turn came, I boldly/timidly suggested, “What about a dance party?” Would that be irreligious? I was wondering to myself. Would it be not Christmassy enough?
I was a little shocked when my suggestion was seriously considered, even more shocked when I realized they actually liked the idea and clearly understood my belief that hardly anything generates as much joy as dancing in a room full of friends and strangers. (Fortunately, Chuck had just experienced his son’s wedding where he danced for the first time in years and had that very experience.)
After a brief moment of delight that my idea was so well received, I was plunged into terror, realizing that since it was my idea, I had some responsibility for its creation. Yikes! Loving to dance and dancing in the streets of Winston-Salem at music concerts was a long way from throwing a dance party for 10,000.
But I had resources. These people have been helping the community throw a party for the community since 2008. They would know what to do!
And, sure enough, everybody gathered ’round. Elaine Lamson from the Mixxer Community Makerspace made giant silver-glitter DISCO signs. Hair and makeup designer Erin Blakley made silvery balloon arches – one for our in-room photo booth, another that acted as a grand entryway to the dance floor. Fayre Stevens jumped in to help take it all apart at party’s end
Local dance teachers Luis de la Cruz of SonCaribe, Dustin Hall of Best of Ballroom, Jaiquala Nache Tyree at Fitness with Quala, and Bo Parker taught salsa, swing dance, hip-hop, line dance, and disco.
Spencer Aubrey managed the deejay booth with Santiago Ramos. People, including whole families, volunteered to greet folks at the door, hype the party, and help the shy ones get up on the dance floor.
We boogie-oogied-oogied from 1 to 6 p.m., and got to experience first-hand, in-person, not on our phones, the joy of jumping around with friends and strangers, basking in the love of God and our fellow humans – and feeling a “thrill of hope” – which is what Christmas for the City is all about for me.
Let’s do it again this year.