Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele sets Dec. 1st "grand reopening celebration" at Domes

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has set a December 1st "grand reopening celebration" for the Mitchell Park Domes.

The celebration will take place on Thursday, December 1st from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., with a flower-cutting ceremony set for 10:00 a.m. in the Show Dome.

According to a statement from the County Executive's Office, thanks to a donation from Northwestern Mutual, the celebration will include free admission and live music, as well as the “Not a Creature Was Stirring” holiday floral show.

Local folk musician David HB Drake will present his “Let There Be Light” old-fashioned Christmas concert from noon until 4:000 p.m.

The celebration will also include a performance by the Latino Arts Strings Program, beginning at 9:45 a.m. to help kick off the flower cutting ceremony and continuing until 10:45 a.m.

According to the statement from Abele's Office, the national award winning Latino Arts Program was established to provide Latino students with instruments, music materials and lessons giving them the opportunity to receive musical instruction they otherwise might not have access to. 40 students will showcase their talent during this ceremony.

Abele, Milwaukee County Board Chairman Theo Lipscomb and Rep. Josh Zepnick will speak at the event.

Details about the holiday floral show and the Christmas concert are below:

Not a Creature Was Stirring holiday floral show

The show will run through January 1st. Featured plants in the show will be a wide variety of Poinsettias, along with red ‘Miracle’ Amaryllis, ‘Partytime Sangria’ Coleus, ‘Silverleaf Red’ Cyclamen, and ‘Blueberry Thrill’ Pansies. Rather than having a single tree as a focal point, the Show Dome will be transformed into a winter forest filled with Colorado Blue Spruce, Black Hills Spruce, Balsam Fir, White Fir, and Mugo Pine. Trees will be decorated in a variety of woodland themes and rustic styles. As visitors explore the wintery woods, they’ll discover nests, burrows, and other homes of forest animals. A fanciful mural will depict the woodland critters celebrating the holidays. To complement the holiday show, Mr. and Mrs. Claus, and a holiday tree character will make appearances December 4th, 10th, and 17th from noon–3:00 p.m.

Let There Be Light! Christmas music celebration

David HB Drake presents “Let There Be Light!,” an old-fashioned Christmas folk music celebration. David performs on guitar, handmade banjo, concertina, dulcimer, and Native American flute presenting little known songs of the season from around the world with new arrangements of Pat-a-pan (French), Moon of Wintertime (Native American), Fum-Fum-Fum (Spanish), and O Tannenbaum (German), as well as traditional holiday favorites.

The concert also includes original songs by David HB Drake including “Let There Be Light” recognizing many of the celebrations occurring at the turning of the year, “O Joseph”, a conversation with Joseph on the first Christmas, and “What do I see on my Christmas Tree”, from David’s award- winning KIDSTUFF recording.

You may recall, all three Mitchell Park Domes were closed to the public in February, after a piece of concrete fell.

Mesh safety netting was then installed at the Domes -- a short-term fix.

The Tropical Dome reopened on September 26th.

The Show Dome was the first to reopen -- on April 29th.

The Desert Dome was the last to reopen -- on October 29th.