Centennial Park in Sarnia will soon be cleared of Christmas lights and displays but volunteers are needed to help with the tear-down.
The Celebration of Lights kicked off ahead of schedule on November 27, 2021, and the dismantling process will officially begin on Friday with "crane day".
"Sterling Crane graciously offers a crane to come and help us with our largest displays, so this year there are two of them," said Chairman of the Celebration of Lights Board Dean Holtz. "We do need a few people to kind of guide them. We need about 10 strong people, if they could show up at Centennial Park at 9 a.m. Friday, it should only take a couple of hours, if that."
However, Holtz said they'll need "an army" of volunteers to help on February 12, starting at 9 a.m., during the community tear-down day.
"That's where we're going to dismantle the rest of the displays and we need to get them to our storage containers which are just around the corner at Sandrin Services," he said. "We need to get them on trucks so we need trucks, trailers, and people. We will provide some refreshments for the volunteers who come but of course, many hands make light work so if we could get 100 people that would be amazing."
Holtz said so far about 10 people or so have said they're willing to help.
"It's a harder sell because tear-down is not as fun and glamorous as set up and it's also a lot colder but we still have to get it done and we do need the help," Holtz said.
Despite not being able to host an opening ceremony this year, as there wasn't enough time to plan the event after COVID-19 restrictions were briefly lifted, Holtz said the overall Celebration of Lights was very well received by the community. He also said they hope to hold an opening ceremony next year.
Celebration of Lights display. December 2021. (Photo by Natalia Vega).
"That's a marquee event for a lot of young families. They love it! We make it completely free to the community because of the generous support and donations of our local businesses and organizations," he said. "It's an event where we have a Christmas carol concert, we have Santa come in, we have horse-drawn trolley rides, fireworks, cupcakes, face painting, and of course, we turn on the lights."
Holtz said they try to operate a year in advance for a budget minimum of $30,000 a year (on average). The budget includes the opening ceremony which costs around $14,000.
"We don't have that yet and we try to have that a year in advance because when people start thinking about the Celebration of Lights we normally have to have a lot of those costs in place," said Holtz.
The initiative continues to appeal for donations. Cheques can be made out to the Celebration of Lights and sent to P.O. Box 2684 Sarnia, ON, Canada N7T 7V9.
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