A light in the darkness
Kish Park event kicks off, hoping to brighten moods and end 2020 on a high note
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2020 may have been especially dark as far as people's moods are concerned, but Kish Park is ending the year as brightly as possible with its annual Shining Light Through the Darkness event. Anyone is welcome to walk the trail through the park and to admire the myriad Christmas light displays.
The holiday event is now 14 years strong, and according to the organization's chairperson, Darla Rickert, it has grown each year. It may sound counter-intuitive, given the COVID crisis we find ourselves embroiled in, but Rickert says this year's setup has included the most volunteers yet.
"Some of our usual groups didn't feel comfortable volunteering because of COVID," Rickert said, noting that she understood completely. "But other groups stepped up and filled those slots. Plus we are outside, so social distancing is pretty easy."
To pull off the elaborate light display, which circles the entire park trail, requires over one thousand volunteer hours---and the setup isn't even finished. "We still have more to do this Saturday," Rickert said. "We'll fill in some of the areas of the park that are still dark, the dolphins and adult skaters will be floating, and we'll have some new displays that I'll talk to you about on Saturday!"
Speaking of new displays, this year's event includes a brand new sea monster wearing a Santa hat and an enormous exhibit of lights shaped like Christmas toys.
Some might wonder why, with all the new displays, the park doesn't run out of space, but Rickert was quick to explain: "Sometimes things are working when they go up, but don't work when they come down. A lot of the new exhibits and replacements go toward allowing us to maintain the event."
"Weather is our largest hurdle," Rickert said. "Rain and electricity don't exactly mix. When it rains really bad, we're down here flipping off breakers to make sure there aren't any accidents. We also don't turn on the lights in the event of severe winter weather, for the safety of the pedestrians.
"One year, the bottom end of the park flooded pretty badly, and we had pieces of our nativity scene floating around down by the campsite and we had to fish them out."
But not to worry! All of the thirty-some pieces were recovered and are sill part of the event today, congregated under the illumination of floodlights and a blue nativity star.
The Shining Light Through the Darkness event is entirely volunteer run. To volunteer, contact Darla Rickert at Darla@kishparkshininglight.org. Donations can be made through the event's Facebook page.
Setup of all the displays is to conclude after this weekend, and the event will run through January 2, 2021.