The Christmas Tree Lighting at Brownwood.
 

Hundreds of people gather to watch as... - The Villages Daily Sun | Facebook

Click arrow on left side of the picture to see all of the pictures of this event.

P.S. It was free. NO charge as will be the other two, free as well.

From the pictures on village news looked like a small crowd paying the bucks for preferred seating. Looks like you had a better view from grandstands. See how it goes when they have it at Sumter Thursday.

I watched on my computer, the webcam had a great view. I was watching Florida/Florida State and LSU/Texas AM on TV and I kept checking back since it was really dark by 6pm it wasn't until about 8pm that they turned on the lights.

I had been to the Lottery Night back in 2013 when the Flamingos performed and they estimated that crowd at 7,000 and it appeared that last night was just as big as the streets were jammed with people besides the square itself. I did notice by the time the lights were finally turned on, the crowd had thinned a bit.

The VIP tents I noticed were totally empty at the time the lights were turned on. Just as I had posted, they didn't have a very good vantage point, especially when the entire dance floor was filled with people. I think those who sign up for the tent are there just to socialize with friends.

The Villages Webcams Squares

The VIP tent at Brownwood cost $. There will be a $ VIP tent at Sumter also. SS will not have a VIP tent.

I believe that the VIP tent was set up for those who chose to make a donation to local charities and was NOT a payment for preferred seating. ["The Entertainment Department also now lists four charities connected to the events – Ronald McDonald House, Lake Sumter Children’s Advocacy Center, Operation Shoebox and the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Charity."
[from the media that cannot be mentioned] Tents are only supposed to support 40 or 50 guests which is why the area is small and set off from the main viewing area.

I believe it was/is a defined donation. Kind of like my donation on April 15th. Do the prefered seaters get to deduct their donation to charity ?

Yes .

Christmas tree lighting
 

This is our first official year as residents to visit the Christmas Tree lighting at Brownwood. Previously I have been once with a friend who is a resident. That being said I was surprised how many people were there who are not residents. It seemed to me that my money will be going to entertain the general public and their children. There were no areas to put our chairs. Most people we spoke with were not Villages residents - some coming from miles away. That's all great - in the spirit of Christmas etc. but I was a bit annoyed. We have recently moved from Celebration where all special community events were for residents and we needed to show our resident id. Why isn't this put in force here? I certainly did not come to entertain the general public at my expense. Perhaps a substantial fee for outsiders would be a happy medium.

The squares are public and always have been. The expense for the entertainment on the squares comes from the merchants ON the squares along with a small stipend from the Florida Tourist Tax. There was no money from any residents pockets used for this at all.

I would suggest that you attend the new residents orientation and learn the ins and outs of The Villages, the CDDs, bonds, etc. You can find a wealth of information by logging on to Village Community Development Districts
No point in being annoyed by things that aren't true.

The non-residents are probably complaining about all the snowbirds being back and larger crowds due to all the new residents south of 44. To me a crowd is a crowd, doesn't matter where they come from, I just don't like crowds so once was enough for me 3 years ago, I'll go see the lights next week.

Wow. Now that you have learned a bit of how things are here, may I suggest that you continue by first attending CDD orientation, and then Resident Academy. Also, look into the 80/20 ratio as it relates to 55+ communities. Become informed and you will save yourself a lot of aggravation.

What he said.

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Not happy to hear this about the tents.