Husband and wife Shreakar Bradhan and Sanjeeta Shrestha and their daughters, 5-year-old Sriya and 7-year-old Srija, experienced their first Lighting of the Lawn since moving to Charlottesville from Nepal three months ago. The boisterous girls happily twirled on the Lawn, giggling excitedly while wearing glow sticks on their heads like halos.
Bradhan is a post-doctoral student studying economics at UVA. “We’re just excited to see all of the lights,” Shrestha said. “This is our first time, so we don’t know exactly how it goes, but looks like there are lots of surprises, too.”
Nearby, a second family was also new to Lighting of the Lawn. Telambria Tinsley of Charlottesville came to see her older daughter, Minaya, perform with a local children’s dance group. “We’ve heard of it, but we’ve never been here before,” she said.