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newyork

Lisa LaRocca

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And the holidays are fast approaching and there is one magical place right here in the Hudson Valley that will really get you in the spirit. So we sent news 12 Lisa Lara back to check it out this year, Lisa. What a beautiful place to be as we kick off the holiday season, favorite place to be every year. This is our third year back here at Holiday Lane, American Christmas. So this is Holiday Lane, Danny's gonna walk around and give you the sneak peek. So I mean, look at this place over 100,000, we figure over 100,000 lights. Dan Grella here with us again. The CEO this is every year you outdo yourself. It just gets bigger and better every year. Thank you. Yeah, we're very happy with how it came out this year. Yeah, amazing. So this is what folks will get to see. They, they pay a ticket, they get to come in the, the amazing shop. We were just at downstairs and then they get to walk around here. Yeah, technically our showroom, our clients come and shop and you can walk around, take as many pictures as you want. There's tons of places to take Christmas pictures with your kids. And, uh, yeah, just come and enjoy it. This is the kind of stuff that, uh, you know, the places, big stores, you know, like Macy's and, you know, all the, all those shops. Well, this is the kind of stuff that they buy for their holiday, uh, decorations and scenery. Right. Yes, that is correct. We also have people who buy it for their houses as well. I can just imagine what those houses look like. So, um so this is, you know, this is a family business. You guys have been doing this for, for decades and uh you store a lot of those iconic decorations that we see down in the city and uh and create them as well. I mean, it, it's a year round thing, year round, full service storage. It's a big part of our business actually storage. We have 100 and 10,000 square feet here in Mount Vernon. Um And that really services all of our Manhattan work. So, and what's so great is that all the proceeds from the ticket sales when people come here, you donate to three different charities here in Mount Vernon and you've raised what over the last you started that three years ago? And what is you've donated up to 100 and 40,000, I think at this point? Yeah, in the past two years, it was 100 and 40 something 1000 dollars that we've donated and we're hoping to keep that same pace and get it over 200 this year. Yeah, that's great. So, we're gonna be talking with some of those charities a little bit later on and, um, hold on, you know what, look at this place, I mean, amazing. So, we're gonna be showing you more of Holiday Lane throughout the morning and we wanna check in now with Matt. Matt. You know, it's weird because we're here and it feels like it should be cold. I know.

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WC117lisa5_2024-11-07-06-51-38

The season is fast approaching and there's a magical place right here in the Hudson Valley that would even make Scrooge smile. So who else could we send? Lisa? Laa? Had to go check it all out. She's Holly, she's jolly. She's our girl there this morning. Not only am I Holly and Jolly? I am like out of my mind. It is back Holiday Lane here at American Christmas in Mount Vernon. This is like one of my favorite days of the year to report. Let me introduce you where he's back again. Dan Castella. He's the CEO of, you're, you're like the Santa of, of Westchester and you have us back again. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming. You know, we're, we're starting at the bottom. We're starting when you first walk in, in the shop and you know, the second you walk in, you just lose your mind over this place. So we did a good job. I think this year. I, I think so. So for people who are not aware of American Christmas and what you do here, talk a little bit about it. We're a commercial Christmas decorating company. We decorate a lot of the iconic events that it displays that you see in New York City um and around the country and the world. So you have a huge warehouse here. So the like for example, the angels at Rockefeller Center, those iconic angels, this is where they you, you store them, you take care of them. So many of the the things that you see down in, in Manhattan and like you said, really all over the world too. Yeah. And you know, it's 100 and 10,000 square feet. We're in Mount Vernon, New York. Um, we're, we've recently opened a retail shop and we have Holiday Lane that we're gonna see. Um, but yeah, we're, we're Christmas 365 days a year. It's great to be you, isn't it? So Holiday Lane you can, you've cut three years ago, you started this where you kind of put this Holiday Lane together. People can buy tickets and come and check it out and then you give the proceeds to three local charities. Yeah. Yes, we give you, we will meet those charities today, but it's three local charities that we donate 100% of the ticket sales to. Very nice. All right. So, uh we are going to be checking out Holiday Lane and the whole place all morning loving life. Some days I gotta say I really love my job guys. Let's come back to you in the studio lots to see this morning.

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WC117lisa6_2024-11-07-06-50-34

Holiday season is fast approaching. And there's a magical place right here in the Hudson Valley that would make even Scrooge smile and certainly making our Lisa Rocka smile, not calling you Scrooge. You are our holiday beacon of light, Lisa. Tell us where you are, what you're doing, who you're with. 00 my gosh, I love this place. Love, love, love this place. We are at American Christmas in Mount Vernon. These are the folks that create and store all the amazing decorations you see down in Manhattan, all the ones that you know, and they create Holiday Lane so that folks can get a ticket, they can come and see some of those creations. And what's really special is they donate uh all the proceeds to three different charities here in Mount Vernon. So we have Henry Wilson with us. He's from the youth community outreach outreach program also known as Wup. Always good to see you, Henry. So now this is the third year in a row that you are uh partnering up with, with the folks here. Tell me what the donations that they have made uh have done for you, what they've enabled you to do. First of all, I just wanna say thank you to Dan and his team here at American Christmas. What the funds have uh enabled us to do is provide scholarships for our parents, particularly when they're looking for uh after school care or summer camp care. And Westchester County, as most of us know, childcare expenses are very high and we try to do our best to keep it low and not put the burden of the course on the parents. So partnerships like this with uh American Christmas comes in just in time. It's a very good blessing. And I mean, you, you guys do amazing work. You have the af you have after school programs, you have the summer camp. Um and I would imagine, and the kids get to come here and check out Holiday Lane. So we come here, we, we come here, we make at least four trips uh with our kids here. Sometimes we bring the kids twice. Um because they get so excited about being here and seeing all the festivities. The, the, the amazing thing is that it's always different. It's never stale, uh what they do here. And so it, it provides a good opportunity to get for kids to be entertained and learn something about what is done here at American Christmas right here in Mount Vernon. Absolutely. All right, Henry. Always good to see you. So we're gonna be Danny's walking around having fun. We're gonna be here all morning. And guys, I hear a special visitor from the North Pole may be joining us later this morning. So don't go anywhere in Mount Vernon. Let's go back to you.

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WC117lisa630_2024-11-07-06-50-52

And speaking of the colder months, the holiday season is fast approaching and there is a magical place right here in the Hudson Valley where you can enjoy all things Christmas. So we sent news twelve's Lisa La Rock to check it out again. Lisa, you've been here before. What are some of the highlights this time around? Uh Well, you know, it's so great because here at American Christmas, they, they create this Holiday Lane and this is Dan Castelli. He's the brains and the CEO behind all of this. What's really great about Holiday Lane is it's different. I mean, this is our third year, year and every year, you know, it gets bigger and better. Yeah, we uh we made some updates this year and uh yeah, we're excited about it. Yeah. About a hun more than 100,000 lights in, in this, right? Yeah, we have more than 100,000 lights. There's about five different areas where you can come and see. Um Yeah, and we hope you enjoy it. Yeah. So these are some of the things that you create that you'll see when you go down to Manhattan at Christmas time or and, but really you have clients, not just here or down in Manhattan, but all over the world. Yeah, all over the world and clients from all over the country come to see the showroom and the shop so you can buy tickets to come here and walk through Holiday Lane and it opens this Saturday and this year you're running it a little longer to the 29th. Yeah, we're going from this Saturday to the 29th of December, right? And there are some days, specific days, not every day, but some days. Uh you have the big guy himself from the North Pole here, right? He will be here on select days. If you go to our website at Christmas in america.com, you can see when San is here, right? And, and I hear he may be making an appearance later which we're really excited about. How long does it take you to put this thing together? Um We plan it all year, so we planned it all year and we started working on the updates to the showroom in June. So it's Christmas 365 days a year. I kind of love, it's gotta be a fun place to work actually starting for next year now. Unbelievable. All right guys, we got lots more to show you just ahead here at Holiday Lane. And like I said, we got a big visitor coming. So stick around for that. Remember? And let's go back to the studio.

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WC117lisa8_2024-11-07-08-43-44

The holiday season is fast approaching and there is a magical place right here in the Hudson Valley that would even make Scrooge smile who else to send. But Lisa Loroco, right had to and she wasn't gonna let us send anybody else. Believe me, she is there enjoying the morning getting ready for what is to come? Yeah, so much fun here. I mean, this is really when you say magical, it really is here at Holiday Lane at uh at American Christmas in Mount Vernon. And what's really special is all the proceeds they make from the ticket sales for you to come in and check this out. They donate to three different Mount Vernon charities. One of them or organizations I should say one of them, the girls and boys club of Mount Vernon and this is Melvin Campos with that organization. Good to see you again. Good morning. How are you? Great. Is this? This place is pretty amazing. It is fantastic. It is. So for you and for those of you who don't know, by the way, the boys and girls Club in Mount Vernon has the most famous alumni, right? We have a famous alumni. Yes, big supporter. So, uh talk a little bit about being able to partner with American Christmas and what it helps do for, you know, for the organ organization. Well, American Christmas has been a great partner in Mount Vernon since they've been here, which is probably getting close to 15 years. Um But the last three years, Holiday Lane has provided funding for three outstanding, what I believe are outstanding organizations in Mount Vernon. Um To allow us to do things that we may not ordinarily be able to do for us. The funds from Holiday Lane has allowed us to take college trips with our high school students, with our jeans and not taking them right in the immediate area. But we've taken a trip to Washington DC where we visited how University Georgetown University, Catholic University. So it's, it's a lot, it's a, it's a great thing. So this is why you need to come to Holiday Lane, not only to check it out, but to support amazing organizations like the boys and girls club guys. We got lots more coming up. Don't go anywhere.

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WC117lisa7_2024-11-07-08-44-40

The holiday season is fast approaching and there is a magical place right here in the Hudson Valley that would make even Scrooge smile. How about that? So who else would we send? But Lisa La Roca, we didn't have an option. She was gonna let us send anyone else. She is there. Holly and Jolly. Feeling great. Oh, I love this place. This is one of my favorite assignments of the year. Our third year here at American Christmas, they create this amazing Holiday Lane. They allow people to come in, they sell tickets and you can walk through. And what's really special is that all the proceeds from those tickets go to three local organizations? One of them is the E Stem Academy and with me is Gerald Dennis. Thanks so much for being back Northeast Stem Academy because we've got so um talk a little bit about uh about the academy and how things are going. Sure indeed, Northeast Stem Start Academy. This is our 10th year and we just completed our 10th year summer program. You see, we had almost 200 kids attend the program from third graders to eighth graders, 10th graders up to and had a really great time and really very productive as well. All the kids learn three different things about stem be it uh astrology, be it uh mathematics, be it science, be it engineering, be it coding, be it robotics and uh they always return, we have about 82% return rate. So kids obviously love it though and they come back every year and now we have kids who have graduated from high school, going on to college and some even completing college who are part of our 1st, 2nd and 3rd programs 10, 9 years ago. So we're very pleased with that more than anything else though. We're very pleased with American Christmas though because they make a big difference. So, and the biggest thing about that I think is very impactful though is the partnership that they give to the community. Obviously, they reside here as a corporation. But more importantly though, they voluntarily help those who need help though. And that's so meaningful though. And it impacts our programs in significant ways. They were directly responsible for at least one of our programs entirely in terms of its cost to reduce that program. It's great to be able to partner up like that. All right. So we have much more here at Holiday Lane coming up. I think we have a special visitor from the North Pole coming our way to. So guys don't go anywhere. We're in Mount Vernon. Let's come back to you amazing place.

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WC117lisa730_2024-11-07-08-45-02

Season is fast approaching and there is a magical place right here in the Hudson Valley that you can enjoy the news. 12 Lisa Rock is back there this year. What an assignment today? Ear my favorite, favorite every year, favorite every year. It's so great. And you can come and check out Holiday Lane here at American Christmas starting Saturday. Right? Dan. Yeah. Yeah. Saturday is opening day. Ok, so you ready for it? We are and we're excited to see. Yeah. Ok. You know what, I'm, I'm excited too. You wanna know why? Because, because, because we got a special visit. We got Paul here. Let me come see who's here. Oh my God. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you. Do you? You know, we appreciate you coming and taking time out from your busy schedule and you're gonna be here certain days at holiday. You get days off from the workshop. Yeah. Yeah, this is busy time. Oh, you're not kidding. I love coming this place though because they've got a great roof accommodates all the reindeer. They love it up. Are they making too much noise? I can hear them can I go up and feed some carrots, please? They love it. Yes, that's what I hear. They like the carrots, carrots, chopped cheese. Really crazy about that. Wow. All right. Good to know. So, what do you think about Holiday Lane? Pretty. Do you like coming here? I love it here. Yes, they did a fairly good job of recreating the North Pole. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty nice. The lights. And it's amazing. How's Mrs Claus doing? She's great. She's on, she's on overtime bacon cookies. Oh, yeah, you got that right. So kids, kids will be able to come uh and again, certain days, so people should check the website if you wanna come and see when I can get time off from the workshop. This is my number one place to go. Ok. So now am I, am I on the good list? Uh Lisa. Hm. Oh, wait a minute. I have a feeling you might be on the other list but uh you still got a few weeks to work on that. Ok. Ok. That's good. Thank you, Santa. All right guys. I'm on the naughty list. Come back to you guys, Santa. Are you sure you're not confusing Loroco with Salvadori. Just, just check in it. He's got his morning show, Lisa's crust. Work on it. Lisa work on it.

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WC117lisa830_2024-11-07-08-45-24

Nations also sign up for price drop alerts. Well, this holiday season is fast approaching and there is a magical place right here in the Hudson Valley that you need to check out. News. Twelve's Lisa Lara is there for us today surrounded by all things holiday, Lisa. Good morning. Ah, good morning to you, Lisa. Good morning, everyone. This is one of my favorite things to do every year. Our third year year American Christmas. This is their Holiday Lane. They create each year here in Mount Vernon. Let me introduce you to uh Dan Castree. He is the brains and the uh behind all of this. Thank you for having us again. Thanks for coming. Yeah, this is so fun. So basically, if you don't know about this, you guys create all those amazing iconic decorations that we see down in New York City during the holidays and also all around the world. That is correct. Yeah, a lot of the big players that you see in New York we're doing year over year. Yeah, like the angels at Rockefeller Center. That's you guys. So this is really great three you decided three years ago to uh to create this holiday lane. Open it up. Uh, all ticket proceeds go to three charities here in the area too. Yeah, that's correct. We donate all of the ticket sales proceeds to the three charities local in Mount Vernon. Um, it's our third year doing it and we're very excited to support them. Yeah. And you've raised, what? 100 and 40,000. Yeah, just over 100 and 40,000 in two years. Nice. Nice. So, this Saturday is when you start. Oh, you open up and it runs through the 29th, right? Yes. The 29th of December. It's every weekend and a few midweek days spread in there. Ok. And listen, this is the place to come because you know, why, who's here? Can we come in? Look, it's the big guy, Santa. Good to see you. How are you? I'm doing great. Thank you. How are you? I'm good. So, you're going to be here on certain days I can get away from the workshop. It's a busy time of year. Very busy time of year. But we love coming here because they've got such a great big roof. The reindeer, love it up there. I know I could hear them. Yep. Yep. So you're gonna be here, your first appearance will be the 17th. That's next Sunday. And then so like we said, sporadically, so you have to kind of check the website, but you love coming here. I love coming here. Yes. And Lisa, I've got a question for you. Have you been good this year? I, I have Santa, I've been good. I have a feeling I've seen your name on that other list. Yeah. Well, you know, Lisa, you've still got a few weeks to work on that. So, so don't worry about what do you want for Christmas. Well, you know, I'm a fan of Barbie. Barbie's dream house. Barbie's Dream house. But can you get me the life size of it? I live it. That would be a dream come true, wouldn't it? Or the Barbie, the Barbie Corvette would be fine too. The pink one. Yeah. Ok. Work on it. Thanks. Thanks. All right. So we're hanging with the big guy here guys. You gotta come check this out. It is absolutely magical. Let's go back to the studio, come and see me in American, Christmas, Santa can't wait to see you and what a perfect setting to do.

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News 12’s Lisa LaRocca is getting into the spirit as she checks out over 100,000 twinkling lights, captivating animatronics and several themed areas, bringing Christmas to life for visitors of all ages.

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Holiday magic comes alive as Holiday Lane opens in Mount Vernon

News 12’s Lisa LaRocca is getting into the spirit as she checks out over 100,000 twinkling lights, captivating animatronics and several themed areas, bringing Christmas to life for visitors of all ages.

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