Sarnia-Lambton Celebration of Lights organizers are calling for volunteers and sponsors to help light up Sarnia’s Centennial Park for the Christmas season for a 40th year.
Sarnia-Lambton Celebration of Lights organizers are calling for volunteers and sponsors to help light up Sarnia’s Centennial Park for the Christmas season for a 40th year.
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About 4,000 attended last year’s opening ceremonies when about 50 light displays were turned on in the waterfront park, said Dean Holtz, who chairs the event’s volunteer board.
As well as marking the start of Christmas season for many area residents, “I think people just love to come down and see the lights,” he said. “Whenever we see beauty, it does lift our spirits.”
This year’s opening ceremonies are Nov. 30.
Organizers have scheduled several days to set up displays and are looking for volunteers to help.
The first is Nov. 2, when about 20 volunteers and several trucks and trailers will be needed starting at 9 am to help move displays stored at Sandrin Services to the park.
“The trailers need to be at least about 16 feet (4.9 meters) in length because parts of our displays are too big to just go into the back of a standard pickup,” Holtz said
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The next volunteer day is Nov. 12, when about 10 “strong people” are needed at 9 am to help guide several large displays into as they are lifted into place by a Sterling Crane crew, he said.
That’s followed by the “big day,” Nov. 16, when “an army” of about 100 volunteers are asked to assemble in the park at 9 am to help finish assembling the displays, Holtz said.
Volunteers who stay into the afternoon that day will get lunch, thanks to Sarnia Blessings, Holtz said.
The board still needs several sponsors, including for the opening ceremony fireworks, wagon rides and trinkets, and the awards ceremony for the Celebration’s annual home lighting displays competition. For details, contacting the board via its Facebook page at facebook.com/p/Sarnia-Lambton-Celebration-of-Lights-100064539170168 or its website at celebrationoflights.com.
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The celebration relies on donations, with about three-quarters of its estimated $200,000 in annual expenses covered by “gifts in kind” from businesses and organizations and nearly $50,000 in financial contributions, Holtz said.
Examples of “in-kind” donations include storage of displays by Sandrin Services, assistance from Bluewater Power, a barge for the opening night ceremonies provided by Babcock Marine and Shoreline Services, security in Centennial Park by Hughes Intelligence and the waiving of city park- use fees, he said.
“Our community really rallies behind it,” Holtz said.
Displays will stay up until early January, when they’ll go back into storage and those needing repairs will be tended to during the year, he said. “Every year, there’s usually one or two displays that are fully restored, but . . . some . . . need a little work here and there.”
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