Published: November 06, 2008 08:41 pm            

The night is all lit up

Oglebay Festival of Lights knows how to warm the heart

FAIRMONT — Your Halloween pumpkin is still on the front porch and your Thanksgiving turkey not even at the grocery store.

Still, it’s never too early to start celebrating the holidays, whether you’re keeping — or making — traditions.

Caren Knoyer, marketing director at Wheeling’s Oglebay Park, has the perfect idea for you:

Head north and follow the lights to the famous Winter Festival of Lights at Oglebay, one of America’s largest holiday light shows.

From now to Jan. 4, the night skies will glow with the luminescence of the more than 1 million bulbs that make up the 70-plus light displays.

It all started in 1985 with five displays — wooden soldiers, candy cane, poinsettia wreath, 12 Days of Christmas and snowmen — and landscape lighting covering 125 acres over a three-mile drive.

Each year more displays have been added, Knoyer said.

The favorite is the Poinsettia Wreath, she said. At close to 60 feet tall and 50 feet in diameter, it’s the festival’s tallest display.

“Of course, you ask different people and you’ll get different answers. Everybody has their favorite display.”

And it had better be there. One year the poinsettia was taken out for refurbishing.

“We got so many complaints that we had to move the process up to put it back. People missed it so much.”

Other popular displays include:

• The animated “Snowflake Tunnel” delights visitors as they drive through dozens of twinkling snowflakes.

• The massive “Polyhedron Star” is emblazoned with over 2,000 lights and stands on the highest hilltop in Oglebay.

• Charlie Brown and gang were introduced in 2000 in several different displays, including the directional arrows held by Snoopy that help visitors navigate the show.

• The Christmas Tree Garden, introduced in 2003, consists of 30 live trees decorated with various colored lights. Situated in the center is the life-size Nativity display.

• “The Gardens of Lights,” added last year, recreates the 16-acre hillside flower garden with 150 lighted hanging baskets, with trees, shrubs and even flower beds illuminated by thousands of lights, all set to holiday music.

“It’s really neat, unique and original,” she said of her favorite display. “It’s very peaceful and puts you in the holiday spirit.”

• The Mountaineer Christmas is this year’s newbie, an animated display designed by students at Wheeling Park High School that depicts a mountaineer cutting down his Christmas tree.

The light festival is going green, replacing existing bulbs with LED lights. The conversion should be completed by 2012.

“People will notice a more intense, saturated color,” she said.

Crews will dismantle the displays in January for maintenance and — come September— will start putting them up again.

All those bulbs will run up an electric bill of up to $100,000 in November and December. Hopefully LED will take this down a bit.

“Those bulbs are more expensive, so it won’t be much of a monetary savings, but it will be better for the environment.”

If you’re going (and if you haven’t been there for a while, you really should), now’s the best time, while the weather is good and the crowds are light.

“Thanksgiving weekend is when we get busy,” Knoyer said. “The next two or three weekends in December are our busiest times.”

An estimated 250,000 to 300,000 visitors will take in the lights until Jan. 4.

“For many people, this is a holiday tradition. Students who worked on the light displays are now bringing their children to see what Dad worked on in high school. And quite a few families stay over night and make this a holiday get-together.”

With 1 million lights on 70 exhibits along a six-mile drive spread over 300 acres, this is not just a light show.

“We’re showing off what’s unique about Oglebay. We light the landscape and trees and architecture. That’s what sets our show apart.

“You really have to see this to believe it. It’s a holiday experience, a tradition. It’s more than just driving and looking at lights.

“Every staff member works hard to make Oglebay holiday-oriented. This is really our fifth season. Here at Oglebay, we have winter, spring, summer, fall ... and the holidays.

“This is our 24th show, so we must be doing something right.”

Also visit the Good Zoo during the day for the state’s largest O-Gauge model train exhibit, lighting and music extravaganza, and Benedum Planetarium’s holiday laser show.

Times for the Winter Festival of Lights are Sunday through Thursday until 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday until 11 p.m. The per-car donation is valid for the entire festival season.

For more information, call 1-800-624-6988 or visit www.oglebay-resort.com.

E-mail Debra Minor Wilson at dwilson@timeswv.com.

        

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