CLA to transform Coleman's park into a winter wonderland

• The Community of Lebanon Association is planning a winter holiday light display in Coleman's park.
• The event will be held from Nov. 22, Thanksgiving Eve, to New Year's Eve.
• Volunteers are needed to help operate the event and their organizations will share in any profits.
• To volunteer email cla.jeannie@verizon.net or call 717-273-7215

On the cusp of the Fourth of July, Christmas may seem far away but the Community of Lebanon Association is already making big plans to turn Coleman Memorial Park into a winter wonderland.

The CLA has contracted with Brandano Displays of Syracuse, N.Y., to erect more than 50 light displays in the 100-acre park, creating a drive-thru festival of lights that will open Nov. 22, Thanksgiving Eve, and run through Dec. 31.

The holiday lights in the park event is being organized in partnership with the city, the Coleman Memorial Park Board of Trustees and Visit Lebanon Valley tourist bureau.

CLA President Greg Bracale and Mayor Sherry Capello unveiled the ambitious plan Wednesday night at HACC-Lebanon Campus to invited representatives of local nonprofits and community organizations in an effort to enlist their members as volunteer workers.

“What better way to get your family in the spirit of the season than hopping in your car to take a trip to historic Coleman Memorial Park for a drive through a new holiday light display?” Capello asked in her introductory remarks. “Beautiful light displays transcend all things that tend to separate us. Every age, every gender, every religion, everybody enjoys lights.”

More:Fourth of July celebrations around the Lebanon Valley

But pulling off the event will also take a lot of work, Bracale said. A total of 1,500 volunteer hours are likely to be needed, meaning the CLA could use the help of an estimated 300 volunteers to do things like setting up, tearing down and directing traffic over the 40 days of the event.

The 1.5-mile route is expected to take about 45 minutes to an hour to drive. It is expected to attract 25,000 over the 40 days, according to a study done by Brandano Display’s owner, John Brandano. 

“The company owner has visited the park several times,” Bracale said. “He’s helped us plan a successful route. And he also likes the viability of the project. He thought our park was an excellent park, because of the way it drives. And we are happy to have that."

Brandano Displays has been in operation since 1976, setting up more than 2,000 light displays across the country, according to its website, brandano.com.

Bracale said he was inspired to try a holiday light display in Lebanon after visiting Brandano's WinterFest production last year at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Del.

"These are not small displays by any stretch of the imagination," he said. "Some of these displays are 25 feet long and 30 feet high."

Under the tentative schedule the light display will be open every night from Thanksgiving Eve to New Year's Eve, from 6 p.m. to 9 or 11 p.m., depending on the day of week. That is when most of the volunteers will be needed.

The incentive for the volunteers and their organizations is a piece of the profit, should there be one, Bracale said.

The CLA president said he hopes to cover the $80,000 expense from businesses and organizations who will pay to sponsor a display in exchange for a sign next to it, advertising their sponsorship, and an advertisement in a program that will be given to those who enter.

If the production costs can be covered, the $15 per car charge would be all profit. To boost attendance, the holiday light display will be promoted within a 50-mile radius of Lebanon.

Bracale said he is expecting there to be growing pains during the first year of the event, but is optimistic that it can become an annual tradition like the CLA-sponsored holiday parade, which will continue. 

To improve the park and expand the holiday light display in future years, Bracale said he would like a portion of any profit this year to go toward installing electricity in the western portion of the park, which is on Route 72, west of N. 12th Street.

The rest of the proceeds would be divided among the volunteer organizations, distributed on the basis of the amount of volunteer hours each contributed.

"He (John Brandano) thinks it's a no-brainer to do well. But we don't know if we will reach our goal," Bracale told the crowd of about three dozen. "We are asking you tonight to think about taking a risk by joining us. It’s a calculated risk. But it is a risk."

Kelly Withum, Lebanon's downtown manager, who previously held a similar position in Lititz, said the event could grow like that town's popular Fire and Ice Festival, held each February.

When doing a survey after starting her job as manager of Lebanon's Business Improvement District in February, Withum said she found people are looking for things they can do as a family.

"This reinforces the whole family experience," she said. "In the first couple of years events like this are successful but it usually takes two years before it becomes just magnificent. The Fire and Ice Festival in Lititz started out small and just got bigger and bigger."

Volunteers for the holiday light display are being accepted. Those who are unaffiliated with an organization can donate their hours to the organization of their choice.

For more information about volunteering or sponsoring a light display contact the CLA by email at cla.jeannie@verizon.net or call 717-273-7215.