Wytheville Enterprise
Fri Nov 21, 2008 - 04:55 PM
By NATE HUBBARD/Staff
The Festival of Lights just keeps getting bigger.
For the fifth consecutive year, the New River
Trail State
Park will host an evening of family fun at the historic Foster Falls
village.
This year’s event, set to be held on Dec. 6 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., will feature
the usual staples of a visit from Santa, warm refreshments and horse-drawn
wagon and tractor rides.
The old favorites will be complemented by added features, said park interpreter
Patrick McFall.
McFall said the amphitheater where Santa makes his annual appearance will be a
full-blown “Santa land” this year, with new decorations turning the area into a
family-friendly winter wonderland.
Anyone trying to count all the lights strung at the park also will have an even
tougher task next month.
“It would be a safe thing to say over 200,000,” McFall said when asked for a
light estimate.
The park interpreter added that there will be five or six more inflatables
greeting festival-goers this year – up to nearly 20 total.
Last year, the Festival of Lights was scheduled for the first time to be a
two-day event to give more people the opportunity to enjoy the experience.
However, McFall said inclement weather caused the second date to be canceled,
and the organizers decided to return to a single early December night this
year.
In recent years, more than 1,000 people have made the Festival of Lights part
of their holiday celebrations.
Instead of a charge for the festival, entrance is gained by a donation of an
unexpired canned good or unopened toy.
Food and toys collected will go to the Agape Food Pantry and the Santa’s Shop,
respectively. The Agape Food Pantry is located in Wytheville, while Santa’s
Shop is an effort of the Department of Social Services to provide toys to needy
children.
McFall said he thinks that the donation effort helps make the Festival of
Lights such a popular event.
“It’s family-driven and it’s for a good cause,” he said. “It’s not like we’re
just doing it to do it.”
Park workers already have spent nearly three weeks putting up lights, but
McFall said the work is nearing a conclusion. He added that the inflatables
will then be set up next month.
Despite the hard work it takes to put on the event, McFall said the joy he sees
kids get from meeting Santa is priceless.
“It makes it so worthwhile,” he said.
http://www.swvatoday.com/comments/lighting_up_foster_falls/news/4046/
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