THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 13, 1994 TAG: 9412130048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: DAY TRIPPING
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
IT'S THE WEEK before Christmas, and we're all in big ruts: shopping, and baking, and acting like nuts.
You're frustrated from your endless search for battery-heated socks for Uncle Norbert. You're tired of vacuuming evergreen needles from beneath your tree. If you hear ``peace on earth; goodwill to men'' one more time, you're going to drive straight to a live Nativity scene and punch a donkey.
It could be time for . . .
Lights.
Christmas lights. Thousands of them. In animated displays.
Reindeer leaping over your car. Cannonballs exploding at roadside. A snowperson waving. Santa sleighing. A sea serpent playing.
OK, enough rhymes already. And what's a sea serpent got to do with Christmas, anyhow?
The answer is: nothing. But that's not the point of the second annual ``Celebration in Lights,'' which runs through Jan. 1 at Newport News Park.
The point is to take a break from the mad holiday rush. To cruise slowly along, your car radio tuned to a local station playing Christmas music, the kids in back saying ``oo-o-oh'' and ``cool,'' and just enjoy the scenery. In this case, the scenery is 2 miles of lighted archways, seasonal scenes and 11 moving displays.
With just your parking lights on, as directed, the outside world fades to black, with only the decorative lights along the park's road guiding you on your 20-minute tour.
Swans swimming. Skiers swooping. Candy canes. A choo-choo train. Penguins and polar bears and a paddleboat and the North Pole and . . . well, you get the idea.
The city's Parks and Recreation Department began the display last year and was overwhelmed by more than a quarter million visitors, who on weekends lined up for two hours to get in. It was the state's first drive-through holiday light display and raised more than $13,000 for the United Way of the Virginia Peninsula.
There was no wait at all on a recent weeknight visit, leaving time to contemplate yet more numbers. There are more than 280,000 individual lights this year connected by dozens of miles of wire to 28 different panel boxes tied in to 13 transformers requiring the throwing of 34 switches at 32 different locations and burning up $40 of electricity an hour. Workers replace several hundred burnt-out bulbs every night.
The tallest display is a 30-foot lighthouse in the ``James River Holiday'' display. The largest display, ``Enchanted Kingdom,'' is near the end. It's got a little of everything: Santa in his sleigh being pulled by reindeer. A castle. A giant rocking horse. A giant jack-in-the-box. A giant stocking. Two giant toy soldiers. A clock tower. Eight heralds. Eighteen packages, from 4 feet to 8 feet tall. Red, green and gold floodlights. Blue starbursts.
A lot of lights. ILLUSTRATION: MATTHEW BOWERS
The drive-through "Celebration in Lights" display in Newport News
Park runs through New Year's Day.
CELEBRATION FACTS
What: Drive-through holiday light display
Where: Newport News Park, Fort Eustis Boulevard and Jefferson
Avenue, Newport News
When: Through Jan. 1, 1995; Sunday-Thursday 5:30-10 p.m.,
Friday-Saturday 5:30-11 p.m.
How much: $6 per car, van or recreation vehicle; $25 per bus (pay
at entrance)
More info: Call 247-8451
TIPS FOR ENJOYING
``CELEBRATION IN LIGHTS''
Visit Monday through Thursday to avoid heavy traffic
Plan for 20-minute drive through displays: check gasoline, go to
bathroom, prepare snacks ahead of time
Have exact change ready
Tune in WXEZ 94.1 FM for holiday music and weather-postponement
information
You may photograph or videotape displays from moving vehicle, but
no stopping is allowed
Nearby Jefferson Avenue has places to eat if you want to make an
evening of it.
KEYWORDS: CHRISTMAS LIGHTS by CNB