Light up the Park called a success

The 2021 edition of Light up the Park in Madison Township measured up as one of the best celebrations in the event’s 10-year history.

That’s the assessment of Max Sorensen, who founded the event and has played a major role in planning and carrying out every Light up the Park gala.

Light up the Park, which consists of a Family Fun Day followed by fireworks at dusk in Madison Township Park, made its return on July 24 after being canceled in 2020 because of health and safety risks posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Sponsored by the Madison Joint Recreation District, this year’s traditional Light up the Park event was preceded on the night of July 23 with a new Christmas in July tree lighting ceremony.

More than 400 people turned out to see the illumination of a decorated 30-foot tall blue spruce which recently was planted between the park’s baseball field scoreboard and Lake Road. Sorensen said the first-ever lighting of the tree was “very well received.”

Sorensen is a member of the recreation district board and chairman of its Light up the Park Subcommittee.

Madison Village Councilman Duane Frager, who also serves on the rec board, said he attended the tree lighting and was impressed with the turnout of community members at the event.

Frager gave a report at the July 26 Madison Village Council meeting on the success of this year’s Light up the Park.

He said the thing he remembers most about attending the lighting ceremony occurred when a disc jockey at the event led the crowd in a countdown for the tree to be illuminated.

“And she started at 10, and you just saw from out of the woodwork all of these kids just sprinting to this tree to see it lit up,” Frager said. And I was really touched by that.”

Going forward, the Madison Joint Recreation District plans to hold a tree lighting each year shortly after Thanksgiving, starting this November.

“That tree will be lit every year Thanksgiving weekend and it will stay lit through the holidays as our new community Christmas tree,” Sorensen said.

To introduce the tree to the community, the rec board decided to hold an initial tree lighting one night before the 2021 Light up the Park festival and fireworks show.

Meanwhile, people also turned out in large numbers for this year’s festival, which is known as Family Fun Day, and the fireworks display.

“The fireworks display was attended by over 10,000 people and was the best (show) we have had,” Sorensen said.

Sorensen said attendance was substantial at Family Fun Day, which ran from noon until about 9 p.m., when everyone turns their attention to fireworks.

“We had record crowds all day,” he said. “The food vendors all ran out of food.”

The Family Fun Day also included a Kids’ Zone; crafters; alpacas; and demonstrations of martial arts and dog training.

In addition, Madison Village helped to stir up interest in the 2021 Light up the Park celebration through some activities at its Outdoor Market and Concert held on July 22.

To start with, MadTown Jazz, the featured band at the July 22 concert, played all Christmas music.

“Announcements also were made promoting the other two (Light up the Park) events all evening,” Madison Village Administrator Dwayne Bailey said. “Most of the vendors had Christmasthemed items for sale and wore Christmas hats or decorations.”

Frager applauded Madison Village for taking steps to promote Light up the Park’s tree lighting, festival and fireworks show.

“It was a good collaboration and hopefully we’ll just continue doing things like that,” Frager said.