Area light shows and festivals are brightening the holidays.
Though drive-thru light events predate the COVID-19 pandemic, their popularity rose steadily with the need to remain distanced. Today, the convenience and affordability of light festivals keeps them glowing.
In Oneonta, the Festival of Lights, presented by Hill City Celebrations (formerly First Night Oneonta) is in its fourth year. The free festival will take place in Neahwa Park from Dec. 16 through Jan. 1.
Connie Herzig, chair of the 13-person Hill City Celebrations board, said members have been planning the festival since July.
“It started in 2020, with COVID, and nothing else going on,” she said. “We came up with this idea, and it has been going great guns ever since. We thought about scaling back on it since there are so many other light festivals, but ours is free, it involves the community — we have almost 40 community participants — and we don’t think Oneonta would stand for it.”
That, and the festival underscores the group’s goals, Herzig said.
“It’s been highly successful, and the community involvement is key,” she said. “Our mission statement says we are to build connections and engage the community in arts and culture through safe, admission-free, drug- and alcohol-free, family-friendly events, and this just lines up perfectly with that; it engages the community and it is free, which is different from most other light shows in the area, and it promotes family fun without substance abuse.”
Herzig credited such involvement, and a hearty board, with growing the event.
“As a committee, we set up 10 displays and decorate the buildings,” she said. “SUNY Oneonta brings bucket trucks every year to hang lights, RJ Millworkers sends workers to do the archway, the colleges have a volunteer day … so we get lots of support from the community and it really makes you feel good to see so many people pitching in.
“We have many new members on the board, and they are embracing this challenge,” Herzig continued. “They’re really jumping in with two feet … and we have different people working on different aspects. Setup (at the park) is December 7 through the 16th, and community organizations can set up any time during that timeframe, and somebody from our committee will be onsite from 10 to 4 all those days. We help them and give them directions and, onsite, make sure they use the correct outdoor lights. And we drive through every day to make sure things are on and still standing and the joy is still there.”
Prizes, sponsored by the Cleinman Charitable Trust, will be awarded for first-, second-, and third-place displays, Herzig said, with matching amounts awarded to each winner’s charity of choice. “It spreads the love throughout the community, which I think is really awesome,” she said.
Herzig said further monetary backing facilitates the fest.
“We don’t get any money from anybody other than our sponsors, and we have a couple of gold sponsors, (including) the Cooperstown All-Star Village and the O’Connor Foundation, and two anonymous (donors) gave us $2,000 or more, which is a lot,” she said. “And we’ve got a lot of smaller donors.”
Such cross-community support, Herzig said, creates an uplifting event.
“I think people want something in their lives that they can count on and go to when they want to,” she said.
“We start Dec. 16, and it goes through Jan. 1, and we have three days of cleanup, but I just think it helps people to keep their spirits up and feel good. There are hardships for many people, and this is something that’s free and available and makes people happy.”
The festival’s Dec. 16 start, Herzig said, will include an opening night event, sponsored by Five Star Subaru.
“I think opening night will be bigger and better than it has been,” she said. “People are always surprised by it, so I’m really trying to get the word out and, by having Five Star sponsor it and giving it a name, that’s a huge upgrade. We’ll have Cosmic Karma Fire spinners, free hot chocolate and popcorn at the large pavilion and Santa will be making an appearance. It will be beautiful, and that’s rain, snow or shine. We’re very excited.”
For more information find “Hill City Celebrations” on Facebook, visit hillcitycelebrations.com or contact firstnightoneonta@gmail.com.
In Morris, the Holiday of Lights and Santa’s Village is returning to the Otsego County fairgrounds, 48 Lake St., Dec. 14 to 16 and 18 to 23.
Fair Manager Lisa Jackson said the board began the event “for something to do” in the off-season, and to supplement fair losses during the pandemic.
“This is going to be our fifth year,” she said. “It’s $10 per car, and that gets you into the light show and the village. When COVID happened and none of us were allowed to have fairs that year, we said, ‘thank goodness for Holiday of Lights,’ because that made it so our fair didn’t have to borrow money to make it through. So, it does (act as a fundraiser), and it goes toward repairs. We just got a $13,00 electric bill for new transformers and electrical work, so it helps pay for all that.”
Executing Holiday of Lights, Jackson said, requires “about two months to hang all the lights,” though she said the roughly six event organizers “will work on it until the night it opens.”
Jackson said visitors can expect an expanded, and increasingly interactive, Holiday of Lights.
“There’s a lot to it; the lights is one thing, but last year we started the village, and that is another feat all in itself,” she said. “Last year, we wanted to set ourselves apart. Everyone else is popping up with light shows, so we added a whole village and that was such a big deal.
“You get the whole spiel at the gate, and we have a radio station, now, so you can listen to Christmas music and our sponsors are the ads,” she said. “Then you drive through, and you can park and walk through the archway into Santa’s Village, where we have Santa’s hut, the general store, a bakery, a candy store and a post office where little kids can write letters to Santa. The new one this year is an apparel store, and you can actually go in them (and shop).”
Jackson said a trip to Koziar’s Village in Pennsylvania, plus the fair president’s love of the holidays, spurred their village.
“My husband, (Dwayne Jackson), is president of the fair and he’s a huge Christmas buff, and we went (to Koziar’s) and everything was fake and the stores are all made of cardboard,” she said. “He’s a Christmas nut and … last year, Dwayne said, ‘We should do the village to set ourselves apart,’ and when we started it, just a few weeks before (opening), Big E’s sheds donated us all the buildings and sponsored the whole village. They bring them in, and we add; so, you go in and you can shop. The general store has snow globes and candles and Santas and ornaments and a big Grinch section — we make all our own Grinch ornaments — and homemade Christmas centerpieces. (In) the candy store, there’s all sorts of Christmas candy, and we made most of it ourselves. (For the apparel store) we bought all the knit hats that will say ‘Holiday of Lights’ and kids’ shirts and hoodies. So, when I say months of time goes into it, it is from the time we shut the fair down until the time we open Holiday of Lights.”
Such continued growth, Jackson said, has been matched with rising patronage. Holiday of Lights attendance, she said, mirrors the fair, in that visitors “tend to (come) more from other counties,” including “up toward the Waterville, Leonardsville and Utica area.”
“It’s huge and, this year, Dwayne decided it was going to be bigger, so the route has been extended and it goes down in behind all the barns and we’ve never done that before,” she said. “We have over 17 new business participating this year (for a total of) over 50 businesses. It’s free advertisement for them.
“Each year, it’s gotten bigger and bigger, because we make it bigger and bigger,” Jackson continued. “So, it’s been really good. The village is what sets us apart, and we have two open fire pits and, this year, we’re doing free marshmallow roasting. We have a kissing bridge … and a gazebo with some live music and a reindeer sleigh that we had redone and are setting up for a photo-op in the village, so there’s going to be stuff to do in the village as well as (the shops). And we ordered a hot cocoa bar and are hoping we can get it done in time.
“At a lot of places … it’s the same stuff and it doesn’t change, but ours is never the same. These guys change things up every year, and this year we’ve got some epic spots. (Last year), I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this again and give up months of time,’ because I do this all summer; but when you’re here, and the music is playing and you’re walking a pot of hot chocolate down to the bakery, you literally feel like you’re in a Hallmark movie.”
For more information, or to enter ticket giveaways, find “Otsego County Fair (Morris, NY)” on Facebook.
In Bainbridge, the Mullineaux Family Light Show is in its fifth year. The light show is synced to music and presented nightly from 5 to 10 p.m., through New Year’s Eve, by Rebecca and Daniel Mullineaux at 2015 county Road 35.
“We started out with more traditional lights and stuff, then we slowly switched over to what we have now,” Rebecca said. “So, it’s been five years with the full show.”
“But,” Daniel said, “we’ve been (decorating) for 12 years.”
Each year’s show, Daniel said, is varied.
“We add something every year, and we add new songs for the first week, then I play some of the songs the following week from last year and we do kids’ shows,” he said, noting that the inspiration for the initial light show came after “seeing it on YouTube.”
“We also went to a place down in Binghamton that did it,” Rebecca said. “We watched their show and he got hooked and decided he wanted to do one.”
Though setup is weather-dependent, Rebecca said, the Mullineauxs “try to do it slowly and start early,” and it “usually takes a couple days.” Planning, though, “usually starts in January,” she said.
“We plan for next year, then we work at it all year,” Rebecca said.
“This thing is completely done by us, 100%, and a lot of the props we have here, we’ve made ourselves,” Daniel said.
The Mullineauxs, whose show is free, said they “get more and more people every year.” Positive feedback, they said, keeps them motivated. Rebecca said that they “have people coming from out of state … but also Walton, Oneonta and all over the place.”
“Our Facebook page has 2,337 followers right now, and they message us a lot,” Daniel said. “At night, I sit there and answer questions pretty much every night. The children that we hear down by the road, they’re singing to the songs and they’re dancing, and a lot of the parents post pictures on our site. We’ve had a lot of people offer donations and want to help us with the electric bill, but we don’t accept any donations. I tell them, if I couldn’t afford to do it, I wouldn’t do it.”
“We get a lot of thank-yous and stuff in the mail,” Rebecca said. “We’ve had cookies and brownies and stuff dropped off and what makes it all worth it is the people and the kids all love it and enjoy it. We just want to give the community something to enjoy.”
For more information, find “Mullineaux Family Light Show” on Facebook.
In Schoharie, Fox Creek Park is home to Lights in the Park through Twelfth Night. According to schohariepromo.org/events, “trees in Fox Creek Park are wrapped in colorful lights (and) the pavilion is decorated with lights and other decorations are placed in the park.”
The Jungle Bells light show has returned to Animal Adventure in Harpursville, from 4 to 8 p.m., Thursdays to Sundays, through Dec. 30, with a drive-thru only night Dec. 20. Purchase tickets and find more information at animaladventurepark.com.
In Cooperstown, the Farmers’ Museum is hosting Glimmer Nights, described at farmersmuseum.org as “a six-week holiday light show extravaganza.”
Glimmer Nights, the site says, “will take place on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings (through) December 30, closed Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.”
“At Glimmer Nights, visitors of all ages will experience the museum as never before on a self-guided walking tour through a wonderland of elaborate, multi-colored light displays,” it says. “The path winds through the museum’s Country Village and other areas, each creatively illuminated with a unique theme.”
Visit farmersmuseum.org to purchase tickets.