Three years ago a group of volunteers put together the first "Lights of the Northwoods" display over the holidays at Hodag Park in Rhinelander. The response was very positive and this weekend the third display opens for the public.
Ken Krall spoke with Shawn Will, president of the group, about this year's display and even more attractions for the public at the free event...
Shawn Will, president of Lights of the Northwoods. They have a website with a listing of all the sights during the display atLights of the Northwoods.com
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Three years ago a group of volunteers put together the first "Lights of the Northwoods" display over the holidays at Hodag Park in Rhinelander. The response was very positive and this weekend the third display opens. The trees and markers at the large park are colorfully decorated with a holiday theme as motorists can drive through the park.
President of the group, Shawn Will, says more displays are ready for this year's show...
"We've been able to expand that display from 50,000 lights to over 175,000 lights this year. We've also been able to put together a couple new displays this year. We have 20 new displays, well, 19, new displays coming this year. It will be interesting to see how the park builds every single year..."
Will says the group consists of a dozen volunteers, which doubles about this time of the year to get the display ready. A shuttle will go from behind CT's Deli downtown to the park, where you can take a trolley past the displays. Santa will be there each night, a bonfire and more.
There's no admission charge for the rides or inside the park, but a free-will donation to the area food pantries is requested...
"We do ask for a donation to the food pantries. One of the great things we were able to do last year we were able to expand our giving to the food pantries. We not only worked with the Rhinelander Food Pantry, we were able to work with the Elcho food pantry last year. We expanding this year as well as now were going to include the Tomahawk food pantry. Over the course of the last two years we were able to collect over 8,000 pounds of food..."
The ribbon cutting for the event is Friday evening at Hodag Park. The displays will run this Friday through Sunday and again at the same time the next weekend from 5 to 9 p.m.
