Park Meadows Estates light
display chairman Ivan Ulriksen plugs in a Santa Claus light display Monday evening in the area. Residents of Park Meadows Estates decorate their houses in elaborate light displays during the holiday season and raise money for the Medicine Hat and District’s Brown Bag Lunch Program. The light display is expected to raise around $7,000.
The Park Meadows Estates Christmas light display has become a tradition for many across the city and it is now up and running for the Holidays.
“The light display is quite something,” said former light committee chair Art Ausmus. “We’ve got a lot of the houses lit up and a lot of the trees in the park are lit up as well.
“We’ve been doing this for over 20 years and there’s just a lot of really great decorations up right now.”
There’s more than 120 residences in the Park Meadows community, most of which take part in the light display.
A big part of why the group’s display has become so popular is because of its support of the Medicine Hat & District Foodbank.
“We’ve got boxes set up at every entrance where people can drop off a cash donation,” said Ausmus. “All of the money goes towards the food bank’s Brown Bag Lunch Program.
“The last few year’s the lights have brought in roughly $7,000, and we’re expecting to see about that much again this year.”
Ausmus says the light display started as a way to bring people together more than 20 years ago, and it accomplishes that goal to this very day.
“The amount of traffic coming through is something else,” he said. “It’s Christmas time and it’s a great way to spend a bit of time together as a family looking at these great light displays.”
Ausmus says there is a large sense of community pride around the light display.
“People do this every year and it’s something a lot of people look forward to,” he said. “Every penny we raise goes towards the food bank, so all of the lights have been purchased by people in the community with their own funds.”