The traditional Christmas gathering on the Champs-Elysées has found its muse: the French actor and director Gilles Lellouche (starring in North Bac or evenAsterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom)who will press the button that will illuminate the most famous avenue in France, after Tahar Rahim.
After having been lit for three winters by red LEDs, then more traditional ones, golden and champagne in color, here comes the time of the three-step waltz for the beautiful avenue: “The calm of the champagne garland, then suddenly the excitement of the sparkle on the hour, resumed at the quarter of an hour, at the half hour, a nod to the sparkle of the Eiffel Tower, then the combination of the two”, detailed Marc-Antoine Jamet, president of the Champs-Élysées committee.
400 trees will sparkle until January 7
The inauguration will take place on November 19 from 11 a.m., the avenue being pedestrianized that day, to make way at 4 p.m. for a Latin music show and a batucada, and at 6 p.m. for a show of the dancer and choreographer Sadeck Berrabah. The mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, Gilles Lellouche and three seriously ill children accompanied by the Petits Princes association will press the switch at 7:35 p.m., then give way to a DJ set.
400 trees will sparkle until January 7, between 5 p.m. and midnight, and even all night on the evenings of December 24 and 31. This is a little longer than last year, when the bulbs only used energy for six weeks (instead of seven), and stopped at 11:45 p.m.