Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
The Annual Anderson Christmas display begins with a less low key, less visible tradition: people showing up to help.
This is the practical stage of Christmas that rarely makes it onto a greeting card. Displays need repairing and constructing. Decorations and lights need placing. It takes the work of an unheralded few to prepare the holiday display that thousands enjoy every year.
It is work that makes the 33rd annual Anderson Christmas Lights, the drive-through holiday show, special.
And they need your help.
Before opening night on Thanksgiving, the nonprofit is asking for volunteers: students, retirees, church groups, civic organizations, business teams and anyone else willing to spend part of November getting Christmas ready.
The invitation requires no particular claim to holiday expertise. There are displays to set up, repairs to help with, good fellowship and a holiday joy that will be manifest in a few short weeks.
The finished attraction will be a nightly show of holiday lights, but for now, volunteers are needed in the daylight.
Saturday volunteer workdays are scheduled for Nov. 7, 14 and 21, from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Volunteers are also needed Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., for display repairs and placement. The work takes place at 150 Rose Valley Blvd., the site of the light show. Lunch will be provided for those who stay all day. Students and others seeking community service hours are welcome.
This holiday tradition can seem, from the visitor’s side of the windshield, like something that simply returns each year. The lights come on; the familiar scenes reappear; another December begins to acquire the shape of the ones before it.
But on the other side of that experience are people making it happen by maintaining displays, preparing the property and finding ways to keep an evening out affordable.
The event is also a means of supporting local charities. Volunteer labor, sponsorships and admission revenue help sustain the show and the organization’s charitable partnerships.
This year’s display opens Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, and runs nightly through Dec. 25, from 5:30-10 p.m. Admission is $15 per carload and $30 per bus.
Along the driving route, visitors will find doznes of colorful holiday scenes and returning favorites. Santa’s Village will offer visits with Santa, seasonal treats and entertainment on designated dates. Its operating schedule and activity details will be posted on the event website.
For now, though, the immediate need is not for spectators but people who make the spectators’ experience possible.
Businesses, churches, school groups and civic organizations are encouraged to bring a team. Individuals can come on their own. To sign up, email office@andersonlightsofhope.org or at AndersonChristmasLights.org. Updates will also appear on the Anderson Christmas Lights Facebook and Instagram accounts.
