Celebration of Lights to debut at Cumberland Fairgrounds

Maine's Celebration of Lights, a brilliant display of colorful
holiday lighting for the entire family, runs from Nov. 26 to
Jan. 2 with two shows nightly at the Cumberland County
Fairgrounds. SUBMITTED PHOTO   

By Daniel Gray

For the first time, Maine's Celebration of Lights will be held at the Cumberland Fairgrounds this year. Over a mile of brilliant light displays will be showcased for people to drive through, a perfect winter activity for the whole family.

The drive-through event is scheduled to run from Nov. 26 to Jan. 2 and promises a spectacular holiday event for everyone to enjoy. The Celebration of Lights will be open from 5 to 7 p.m. and again from 7 to 9 p.m.

Those interested in attending can purchase tickets online now to make the process quicker.

EJ Dean, Maine Light Show's CEO, encourages people to do online ticketing instead of at the gate.

"We do charge extra on-site for those who didn't get tickets online, but we want to encourage people to purchase online. It's a much faster and smoother process for the on-site staff." said Dean. "It's to also show us how many people are attending so we can maintain how many cars are going in. We want to cut down as much traffic to the community as we possibly can."

To use the online system there are two ways to do it either by email or printed out as tickets. Once the tickets have been purchased, you will have a barcode scan sent to your email. Attendees can simply pull this bar code up on their phone or have it printed out for a worker to scan.

On weekdays, Monday through Thursday, the tickets online are $20 and $25 on-site for regular passenger cars. For limousines or small busses, it is $40. Weekends and holidays, the cost is $23 online and $30 on-site for regular cars, and $50 for limousines or small busses.
Featuring a mile of light tunnels and amazing displays, the event will include a special radio station to immerse the whole family into the holiday season. There will also be classic fair foods sold in a drive-through manner such as hot chocolate, water, fried dough, cotton candy, popcorn, and even fried Oreo cookies.

Both the light show itself and the concession stand are drive-through  only to limit the amount of contact for attendees and workers.

"The whole goal is to make the light show safe and enjoyable for the whole family, regardless of what your comfort level is during this time." Dean said.

The long process of putting the event together itself is a fun one too. Each year during the summer, new displays are created to keep it fresh for returning families.

Randy Parent, operating manager for the light show, has a fondness for what he does.

"I love this job and putting smiles on people's faces. Our company motto is making memories and it is so true. We do what we do so that people can make memories with their friends and loved ones. I've done this job my whole life and honestly have to say that is the best part." Parent said.

Like Parent, there is a crew of 10 who are dedicated to what they do, with two special crew members being Johan Kleynhans and Marius Smit. The set-up process is a lot of work and has them going around the clock. So much pride and passion is put into these light displays just to make families gawk in awe at the end result.

"When the light shows are running, we are always looking for ways to improve and additions we can make. We start fabricating our new light additions in late summer and that continues until right up to opening. We put a lot of pride and effort into our shows and therefore every piece is a labor of love, we think they are all great," Parent said.

At the light show, there are over one million lights used and, while the number of yards is unknown, it's surely in the thousands range. They use custom- built displays and animations that they work with partners on.

"It's a great event. There's a numerous variety of different scenes, different lights, silhouettes, and tunnels of lights. To watch the kids stare at all the hard work that's put in by the crew, it's pretty neat." Dean said.

To purchase tickets, head to www.fiestashows.com/maine-celebration-of-lights <