A Winter Wonderland of Lights

By Michal Basford

From now until Jan. 2, the Winter Wonderland lights show will be open in Tilles Park, which is located at the corner of Litzinger and S. McKnight roads, south of Highway 40. People can come to the park and travel through the light show any time between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10 per family vehicle and is paid at the end of the ride.

“[My favorite part of seeing Christmas lights is] realizing all the effort that it takes to put up all those lights,” sophomore Gaby Fitch said. “Also, it just looks really nice.”

As patrons drive through in their vehicles, many people turn on the radio and listen to Christmas music to get in the holiday mood. It is open from Sunday through Friday every week until Jan. 2. Saturdays are reserved only for carriage rides, and can be reserved any night of the week. This year, more publicity has been made for the attraction of their proposal package, which is where you can propose to your loved one in the park. Not many details are released about the specifics in order to keep it a surprise.

This whole event started with the owners. They begin building the displays in January while it’s being designed.

“I think [seeing Christmas lights] just puts everyone in a happier, brighter spirit rather than ‘oh, it’s cold and dark at 5:00,’ but then you get to see all these twinkling colors and sometimes they make shapes,” Fitch said. “It’s great.”

After months of planning, the lights are put up in early October in order for the display to be put up on time. It takes the team, which consists of only 30 workers, about six weeks to set up.

“It changes year after year, so even if you’ve seen it in past years, if you come again this year, you will see something a little different, ” Media Manager Maggie Martin said.