Winter Festival of Lights

When my children were small, we would travel to Wheeling, WV. to see Oglebay Park's Festival of Lights. It's not far from us, about 40 minutes. They loved seeing all of the beautiful color light displays and especially entering the twinkling snowflake tunnel of lights.

aaahorizons.com

At that time, now I haven't been there for a few years, you tuned into a certain channel on your radio, and  listened to Christmas music as you drove through the park, with just your parking lights on.

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2010/11/brighten_your_holidays_at_big.html

It's a six mile drive through the park resort, and 300 acres. Oh, they would get so excited when they found out we were going to see the lights!

http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091209-lloyd-festivaloflights/index.html

About half way through the park, we would always stop at the Christmas shoppe, because mommy loved looking at all of the Christmas decorations, and they could take a bathroom break too! We would get something to drink and then continue on in awe of the colorful displays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Candycanes.jpg

http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091209-lloyd-festivaloflights/index.html

This holiday tradition began in 1985 and went from covering 125 acres with lights and five displays to 300 acres of lights with seventy four displays today.

http://travelforchristmas.com/oglebay-christmas-lights

Every year, several new displays are added. In 2008, the new displays were using LED lights and the existing light displays were gradually going to be converted to LED lights.

http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/548781.html

The new lights would use 85% less energy and last five times longer.

http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091209-lloyd-festivaloflights/index.html

SodaHead

They are a brighter bulb that you can see from a longer distance.

http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091209-lloyd-festivaloflights/index.html

There's no admission charge to visit, but donations are appreciated. Since 1985, The Festival of Lights has grown into the nation's largest holiday light show attracting more than a million visitors a year,

http://www.oglebay-resort.com/fol.htm

including 3,000 tour buses from more than 36 states! This is why I'm glad my children are grown now because I really couldn't sit through the wait to get to the top of the hill to get into the park!! You would need to leave early in the afternoon for the big wait to see the lights!

http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091209-lloyd-festivaloflights/index.html

SodaHead

http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/local/091209-lloyd-festivaloflights/index.html

I found this wonderful video on YouTube which is so much nicer than pictures if you would like to watch. The video quality is amazing! Uploaded by Accord03SixSPD. Enjoy!