The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Christmas display fills park for second year
The Magic of Light display features many different Christmas lights stretching throughout the park.
The Magic of Light display presented by FunGuys Events and Victory Park Ohio is located at 7777 Victory Lane in North Ridgeville, featuring many different Christmas lights stretching throughout the park.
“This is the second year we’ve set up a light display here,” said Bob Dewire, operation manager of the Magic of Light display. “We’ve increased the amount of lights we had over last year’s display and we have more variety of different Christmas-related displays.”
Dewire said this year’s display is running a lot better than last year.
“It’s a learning process just like anything else,” he said. “The weather didn’t do us any favors last year, nothing could freeze. We had cars driving through the mud and we even had to tow someone’s car to get it out. It was a bit of a nightmare. Fortunately, this paved-asphalt drive was added which allows cars to reach the entirety of the display.”
Dewire said the Christmas light display is over a mile long.
“It wraps around the fields here and covers a good portion of the area,” he said. “I don’t think there is really anything quite like it in this area. There are all kinds of different displays. We have everything from a Nativity Scene to Santa riding a motorcycle. Pretty much everyone’s version of Christmas is covered.”
Dewire said he and his crew have been setting up for the event since mid October.
“It takes us about a month to set everything up, it’s quite the process,” he said. “It took us about two to three weeks with a crew of 12 to 14 on average each day. We also have around 14 people here each night to make sure everything runs smoothly. I direct the traffic and make sure the displays are lit properly.”
Dewire said traffic was another point of emphasis from last year.
“It was a bit of a mess last year,” he said. “Cars were congested and the
line was clear to Lorain Road. Now we have people wrapping around and turning right into the display. Pretty much all of the kinks have been worked out and it is a very enjoyable experience for everyone that comes out.”
Brett Pegler, marketing manager at FunGuys Events, who are running the display, said they do these displays all over.
We have one in Los Angeles, two in Canada and one at Daytona Speedway, just to name a few,” he said. “This is the first year FunGuys is running this one and we have loved partnering with Victory Park.”
Pegler said the event came about organically as they were discussing another event with Victory Parks.
“Both sides expressed a desire to have a Christmas light display and this is what we came up with,” he said. “It’s about 30 minutes to drive the entirety of it. We also have special days like donuts on Tuesdays and a free second drive through on Wednesdays. We feel this will be a great family tradition for years to come and we want to add more to it each year.”
Tickets are $20 per car during the week and $25 on the weekends. The display starts at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m.