Summary
Although the park's unique location on a bluff next to the Pacific Ocean draws many visitors, the show transforms formal gardens and the park's oriental pond into a magical exhibit of colorful lights and displays. Unlike many holiday light shows that require visitors to drive through a display area, visitors to Shore Acres can stroll freely through the park to get up and close personal with ev- ery part of the exhibit: 'It's just, like a fairyland of lights,' says Shirley Bridgham, co-coordinator of the light show. "You really have to see it to believe it.'
When the show started in 1987, it was a 'total experiment," says Bridgham. The park had never been open at night before and the co-op only decorated half of the park's formal garden area. That year a 16-year-old Tonya Harding presided over its tree-lighting ceremony and the event drew 9,000 visitors. But Bridgham believes that most guests returned the following year due to the co-op's decision to open the park's garden house-an original part of the park's estate that is generally not open to the public and where visitors could enjoy free hot cider and cookies. "They would have never come back if not for the refreshments," she jokesFriends of Shore Acres' biggest sense of pride resides in its switch to 85 percent LED lighting, which includes all the lights that ire the trees and shrubbery and the majority of lights found in its displays. Although they've been adding LEDs since 2005, the investment isn't exactly cheap; they spent $1,600 on this year's batch of fights alone. Yet Bridgham is confident that the more energy-efficient LED lights will last longer and wM make display colors pop with their extra power. Also, it WiB save . volunteers from constantly replacing the more fragile incandescent lights they norrnaly use, says Bridgham.See the full content of this document
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Traveling Light
This marks the 19th year that Lights on the Lake has been illuminating Onondaga Lake Park, but Central New York isn't the only region that boasts a Jailer light show. These three events confirm that' holiday lights are appreciated everywhere in the country - and give Liverpool's show some fair competition.
Bright NightsFor the last 14 years, Bright Nights, of Springfield, Mass., has been bringing some serious holiday lighting to Forest Park. In fact, its 2%-mile display - the same length as Lights on the Lake - featuring more than a half-million lights, has made it the largest holiday light s...See the full content of this document
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