The Lights of Christmas is really a year-round event! Oh, most of it goes on unseen, but it is all important to the success of the part that everyone does see during December. Planning happens early in the year, and all year long, strings of lights are being tested and repaired. The light hanging crews start putting up the lights the first week of September, and won’t finish working until the lights are all down, around the end of January.

But, there are two events that are absolutely critical to making The Lights happen — Thanksgiving Working Weekend just before the event opens, and Take Down the three days after it closes.

These events are orchestrated by Velda Millard and Kayla Cost, The Lights of Christmas Program Coordinators. They make sure the volunteers are assigned where their help is needed, and that the supplies, equipment, and instructions are all ready before everyone arrives.

Thanksgiving Working Weekend, November 24-27, is when all the finishing touches are put on the event. With plenty of help, everything gets done and other than some cleaning up, the event is ready to open. Without enough help, the last few days before we open can be a mad scramble!

Take Down is December 29-31. By the end of Take Down, the goal is to have all the major decorations and equipment down and stored away. If we don’t have enough volunteers it can take several months to get everything put away. A good Take Down crew is essential to starting off the next year’s event successfully.

The Thanksgiving Working Weekend and Take-Down volunteers are some of the unseen heroes of The Lights of Christmas! Would you like to join us? While it may not sound like a glamorous job, you get to meet new people and we do have a lot of fun. You can sign up on our website, or call the Registration Department at 1-800-228-6724.