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Holiday lightfest is a first for area Date published: 11/23/2009
BY EDIE GROSS
It's one thing to erect a Christmas tree. It's another thing entirely to erect a giant cartwheeling gingerbread man or 10 electrified lords a-leaping. "You wouldn't believe how tall some of these suckers are," said Sherilyn Preston, after a wrestling match with an 8-foot-tall gumball tree, part of the Candyland exhibit at Virginia's Holiday Lightfest in Spotsylvania County. Preston and about a dozen other volunteers set up playful penguins, maids-a-milking, gigantic snowmen and other glimmering displays last week for the mile-long drive-through exhibit, which opens Friday evening and runs through Jan. 1. The event at Patriot Park, next to the Spotsylvania YMCA, is a fundraiser for the Rappahannock Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. Organizers hope families enjoy the inaugural event so much they'll return year after year. "It is just absolutely magical," said Preston, director of the project, who was inspired after visiting a similar light display in Centreville, in Fairfax County. At the Bull Run Festival of Lights, Preston said she was so impressed with the glittering snowmen and twinkling Christmas trees that she was tempted to reach out of the car and touch the towering electric displays. Preston, a CPR first aid instructor and owner of several Minnieland day care centers, approached the Red Cross about pulling together a similar event here and got a thumbs-up from the board. Local businesses have agreed to sponsor the displays. "Everyone we've been telling about it has been saying, 'I'm so glad it's here,'" said Phyllis McBride, the chapter manager at the local Red Cross. "I like that we're bringing the community together with this thing." A PROUD TRADITION If the Spotsylvania event takes off, it will join several other successful light shows in this region. Last year, the Fredericksburg Fairgrounds hosted its first Holiday Lights Showcase, an event that continues on weekends this season from Nov. 27 to Dec. 23. In Centreville, more than 30,000 cars a year--approximately 120,000 visitors--wind through Bull Run's 21/2-mile lighted course. A private company managed the event for about eight years before the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority took it over four years ago, said Jill Vanden Heuvel, Bull Run's park manager. It's a huge fundraiser for the 22-park system, she said, particularly in the winter when park use traditionally drops off. But the first year was challenging, she said.
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 11/23/2009
added the "virginia" part and it's fine. i didn't see the VA part
earlier. :") so much for speed reading.
i just tried to visit holidaylightfest.com and received the
message that it expired on nov. 17th. just FYI.
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