by K.G. McAnally, Staff Writer
BAY ST. LOUIS (GG) — 100 Men Hall hosted its 5th Annual Matzo Ball on Sunday, December 21, 2025, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The family friendly FREE event is a timeless celebration of miraculous light with good food, shopping, and music by Meryl Zimmerman & the Miracles, and much more. The Hall joined with The Arts and its annual Winter Solstice Lantern Parade to create a truly magical event.
This year, the Matzo Ball took place on the eighth night, which is also the longest night of the year, winter solstice.
The evening began at 5:30pm at The Arts, 405 Blaize Ave., where the crowd gathered with ornate handmade, as well as storebought, lanterns in hand to hear a welcome from the founding artists Emma Connolly and Kerr Grabowski. At 6:00 p.m., the parade kicked off for a 0.7-mile stroll through downtown Bay St. Louis, filling the streets with light on the longest and darkest night of the year.
Spectators watched along the route, saw the parade at the historic Depot, and arrived at 100 Men Hall, 303 Union Street, by 6:30pm. The parade ended and the participants went on to witness the lighting of the tiki torch menorah for the 8th night of Hanukkah.
Afterwards, the celebration moved into 100 Men Hall with menorah lighting, last-minute holiday shopping, complimentary latkes from Dragonfly and jelly donuts from Grammy’s, a cash/credit bar, and music by Meryl Zimmerman & the Miracles to keep everyone moving until the lights went out around 8:30pm.
(Photos by K.G. McAnally/The Gazebo Gazette)
