City leaders say they're glad they've been able to "brighten" the Christmas season with the first-ever Festival of Lights. They called the event an unqualified success.
By Christmas Eve, officials estimate 9,000 carloads (or more than 50,000 people) will have passed through the festival's gates since it opened Thanksgiving night. When the festival closes on New Year's Day, attendance is likely to be well over the 30,000 organizers were expecting - virtually ensuring that the event will continue as a local tradition for years to come.In fact, Mayor Marie Huff said she and other leaders are planning to expand the displays, piece by piece and year by year, until eventually it encompasses most or all of the 40 acres in Canyon View Park.
"We're very excited about it and so are a lot of other people," Huff said. "I had one 6-year-old boy who didn't sound like he was very impressed with the idea, but after he saw it, all he could say was, `Wow, that was awesome!' "
The festival, Utah County's only drive-though holiday light show and one of only 15 large-scale Christmas light displays in the United States, runs nightly from 5:30 to 10 p.m. at the park, adjacent to the Spanish Oaks Golf Course on U.S. 6.
Two dozen lighted displays, featuring more than 50,000 colored lights, are located along a one-mile stretch. Included are a tunnel of lights, several figures decorating trees, candy canes, lollipops, a Christmas stocking, a toy store, a hotel, train cars and a train depot, and swans and fountains, as well as eight animated figures.
Among the larger animated displays are a giant lighted clock, which counts down the time until Christmas while a messenger stands by to notify and dispatch Santa and his reindeer; a 30-foot toyland castle, including an eight-foot jack-in-the-box, a 12-foot rocking horse and two toy soldiers; and a North Pole exhibit with penguins, an igloo, snowman, skiers and small and large snowflakes.
Designers from Salt Lake's Carpenter Decorating conceived the displays, made from steel rods welded into various shapes and adorned with lights.
Huff and other city officials have been trying to provide residents with family-oriented events for years, having also established the Spanish Fork Arts Council to provide more fine-arts activities."This is proof that this is the kind of thing families are looking for," she said. "We had a lot of faith in the idea, but it's great that we're drawing such big crowds. We're really doing better than we could have expected for the first year."
Partially funded from proceeds of the Utah County restaurant tax ($5,000 for initial advertising), officials expect the festival to begin breaking even in its third year. This year, organizers will be happy if they're able to pay off the costs of leasing the lights and for further advertising with proceeds from the event's $5 admission charge.
"Things are going to get even bigger and even better," Huff said. "And with that should come even bigger crowds."
The park and the festival are located on Powerhouse Road, approximately a quarter-mile south of the Little Acorn Drive-In Restaurant and five miles east of the I-15 Spanish Fork exit No. 261.
Patrons are charged $5 per carload. For more information, or more detailed instructions on finding the park and the event, contact the city offices, 798-5000.