By Tom Seegmueller
Long before the temperatures across Southwest Georgia began to plummet and the countdown to Christmas was being recorded in double digits, the staff at Chehaw had spent months preparing for this year’s Festival of Lights.
In an interview, Doug Porter, executive director at Chehaw, explained why preparation for this year’s Festival of Lights has been so intense.
“This year, everything was produced by Chehaw staff and local craftsmen,” he said. “In the past, going back several years, we used old lights from Water Gas & Light and refurbished them and put them around the park. Three years ago we wanted to enhance the display and decided to bring in professional lights that we rented each season.”
“So this year we stepped up and made our own lights. What people see out here was created here on the park in our welding shop with our own talent and our own ideas. I’m really proud of what our team came up with in terms of displays and technology. We installed controllers that synchronize our lights to music, snowflakes are falling, Christmas trees are dancing and monkeys are swinging along the trees lining the train tracks. It is a totally new experience for our visitors.”
Porter explains how the magnitude of taking this operation in-house was immediately apparent to those working on this year’s Festival of Lights when they began to scatter the fruits of the past year’s labor throughout the park.” One of the things that’s been so challenging to us is that we spent all summer making hundreds and hundreds of displays. And when they were back in the shop they really looked like a lot. Once we spread them out over three or four hundred acres and two or three miles of drive way and boy it sure spreads them out.”
“But this is just the beginning!” Porter said. The lights currently on display represent the foundation for future years. “We will start working on additional displays as soon as this year’s Festival is over.” Topping the list is a Twelve Days of Christmas and Peace on Earth displays, which are crowd favorites. “We hope the Festival of Lights will continue to be a holiday tradition – a destination for people across Southwest Georgia.”
Chehaw’s Corporate Sponsors made this year’s presentation possible. “We’re so appreciative of our lead sponsor Palmyra,” says Porter. “Our Sponsors allow us to grow the experience.” Other sponsors supporting this year’s Festival of Lights include: SB&T, Children’s Medical at the Veranda and Anna Veiland’s orthodontics.
In November, nearly 400 gathered at the Park for Merry Members Night, a free preview of the light display exclusively for Chehaw members. “Additionally, this year we are proud to offer Chehaw Members discounted admission to the Festival of Lights. It’s a new benefit of Membership at the Park.”
This year an effort was also made to increase the quality and magnitude of the display along the train tracks adding to the overall experience of a nighttime ride on the Chehaw Choo Choo. A menagerie of animal’s line the tracks and a larger than life Nativity scene are positioned for the rider’s enjoyment. Train rides are $3 a person for ages 3 and above. Hot chocolate is available at the train station for $1 and a fire is burning there to stand beside while you toast a few free marshmallows as you warm up. Santa will be in his cabin on weekend nights and nightly from Dec. 17-24. Pictures with Santa are available for $5.
Porter is proud of the fact that during these hard economic times Chehaw has been able to not only continue the Festival of Lights, “but also put some local guys to work in a difficult and challenging economy. We had guys working out here all summer getting this ready.”
This year’s festival also has a new expanded route which takes visitors past a number of new exhibits capitalizing on Chehaw’s unique natural resources. The observant visitor will likely see deer and other nocturnal inhabitants of the park roaming freely through the sparkling lights.
The Festival of Lights will continue to be open from 6 to 9 p.m. nightly until Dec. 31 except for Christmas day. So if you haven’t seen the lights make plans to do so soon. If you have seen the lights why not take somebody who hasn’t so they can enjoy them and make them a part of their holiday traditions in the years to come?
