The Lights of Christmas opens this year on December 3rd, but the crew that hangs all those lights is already hard at work. It takes about three months to get the Christmas lights in place! An event like this doesn’t just happen by itself. It takes lots of planning and a lot of help to make it all come together!

During October and November, all the effort is in the preparations. Decorations will be cleaned up and painted. Light displays will get put together. The volunteers needed to staff the event are being recruited. If you are interested in helping make The Lights of Christmas happen, there are lots of ways you can pitch in.

Volunteers are needed to help with several projects for The Lights. These include testing the strings of Christmas lights, painting decorations, and more.

The final big push to get ready for The Lights happens during Thanksgiving Working Weekend, November 26 to 29. Join a crew of volunteers for an extreme makeover weekend as we transform the grounds into a Christmas wonderland.

During The Lights of Christmas, there is no lack of things to do on the 19 nights we are open. More than 100 volunteers per night power the event. As you can imagine, there are a wide variety of jobs: indoor hosting, parking attendants, pony ride attendants, train attendant, and much more. Volunteering during The Lights gives you the opportunity to get a glimpse behind the scenes to see how this event happens.

The final critical need for help happens after the event when it is time to take things down and put them away. Take Down happens on December 30 and 31. If enough people get involved in this process, everything gets done over a couple of days. If there are not enough volunteers for Take Down, it takes much longer to get the decorations put away.

Are you interested in helping with any part of The Lights this year? To register or for more information about the above mentioned events, you can visit our volunteer website, or call Jessica Wilson at either 360-312-3417 or 360-652-7575 ext. 2276.