Whatrsquo;s your favorite Holiday tradition?nbsp; Itrsquo;s that time of year when we all think about holiday traditions and special memories. One of Hilton Head Islandrsquo;s favorite holiday traditions for over 20 years, the famous ldquo;tastefully tackyrdquo; Dove Street Festival of Lights has a very interesting history.nbsp; Irsquo;m sure many of you have taken part in this Island tradition.nbsp; Locals and visitors talked about the lights and made sure they went to see them at least once during the holidays, but very few people know how this tradition started?nbsp;The Dove Street Festival of Lights started in 1990nbsp;and took place each December until 2010. It began when a local family on the street adopted their daughter and wanted to dedicate an event to her. Local Dove Street residents created a light extravaganza by decorating the entire street with festive lights, ultimately creating a light tunnel effect. Over the years, the lights grew into several streets and more and more locals and visitors made the Dove Streets Festival of Lights part of their holiday traditions.nbsp; They would drive the streets each year enjoying the coffee-shop like atmosphere Dove Street provided for one month every year. People would come for the spontaneous episodes of enthusiasm, as much as for the decorations.nbsp; Sometimes, onlookers broke out into song, and one year a college glee club from Ohio lined both sides of the street and bounced carols back and forth for more than an hour. The Dove Street Lights also became a charitable event with volunteers collecting donations of money,nbsp;food and toys that were given to the local charity, The Deep Well Project, to help make the holidays a little brighter for needy families and children. But as the years went by and the crowds became larger, the strain residents felt with costly electrical bills from lighting the streets and the effort of managing the heavy traffic of sometimes 1,000 plus cars a night, it became more than they could handle, and the decision was made to discontinue the event.nbsp; The Dove Street Lights were dark and missed by everyone. But waithellip;hellip;fast forward to 2014 and Shelter Cove Towne Centre. Months before the start of the 2014 holiday season, the new multimillion-dollar retail, dining and residential development was still under construction and looking for a way to involve the local community and increase traffic.nbsp; Recognizing that the spirit of the Dove Street Festival of Lights was a perfect way to bring energy to the Centre and to the Island and its guests, 50,000 twinkling lights went off in the developerrsquo;s headsnbsp; They reached out to the original founders, and three weeks later a host of Islanders, visitors and media were on hand to watch as the new Mayor of Hilton Head Island threw the switch to the new home of the Dove Street Festival of Lightsnbsp; Villas for Sale in Shelter Cove Unfortunately, this year Shelter Cove Towne Centre decided to discontinue the ldquo;Tasteful Tackyrdquo; Dove Street Festival of Lights, but the Centre is beautifully decorated and this year there is also a skating rink, horse and carriage rides, free movies in the park, and of course, Mr. amp; Mrs. Santa will be there So, if you are visiting Hilton Head this year, be sure to take part in all the festivities, enjoy the beautiful lights and start a new Holiday tradition for your family. The lights are on and will twinkle until December 30th. For a complete schedule of events, click here:nbsp; http://www.sheltercovetownecentre.com/events/lights We wish you all wonderful Holidays, and a very Happy and Healthy New Year(Top photo shows holiday lights at Shelter Cove Towne Centre in previous years.nbsp; Second photo shows 2017 holiday lights at Shelter Cove Towne Centre.) nbsp;Oceanfront Homes for Salenbsp;nbsp;Oceanfront Villas for Salenbsp;nbsp;Golf Homes for Sale under $600,000nbsp;nbsp;Bluffton Homes for Sale under $500,000nbsp;