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Volunteers lit hundreds of luminaries along Summit Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota on Christmas Eve, hoping to give people a reason to stop and take it all in this holiday season.

The Summit Avenue Residential Preservation Association started the tradition last year and decided they wanted to keep it going.

“I think part of the reason [we] wanted to do it as just kind of a gift back to this beautiful neighborhood,” said Claire LeChance with the SARPA. “Our mission is to preserve the residential nature of this area, it has such a history in the Twin Cities. People come from all over the metro area to see the lights here so it was just a nice way for us to give something back to the community.”

Last year they put out about 1,800 luminaries. This year, they asked for community volunteers to help them put out about 1,200.