An entrance welcomes visitors to Central Park. The huge light display will remain up until the first of the year. InkFreeNews photos by Dan Spalding.

By Lasca Randels
InkFreeNews

WARSAW —  This holiday season is different for most of us due to COVID-19, which has affected life as we know it for the majority of the year.

For example, this is the first time in approximately 10 years that an annual event has not taken place in Warsaw to mark the debut of the Central Park Christmas light display. 

“This is the first year we haven’t had the Light Up the Night event,” Warsaw Parks & Recreation Superintendent Larry Plummer said. “We’ve had some snowy conditions that have slowed the event, but it’s never been cancelled.”

Santa looks like he’s getting ready to take off.

The display itself has been a tradition since 1997 when Bruce and Ann Howe donated their personal display to the city. According to Plummer, many of those donated items are still on display today, including the manger scene, carolers, the big Santa, reindeer and sleigh.  

“As i understand, these items were given to the Howes by Charles Finley, who owned the Oakland A’s baseball team,” Plummer said.

The parks department adds new pieces periodically, paid for by sponsors of the display and from donations, including proceeds from the Young Tigers Football concession stand, which is normally set up in the park area so visitors may purchase hot chocolate and popcorn while touring the display area. There will be no Young Tigers concession stand at the park this year.

“This is the first year we haven’t purchased a new display piece due to the pandemic,” Plummer said. “We have placed a donation mailbox at the sidewalk entrance by the Indiana Street parking lot, hoping to receive some funds to put toward the purchase of a new piece for next season.”

Plummer said some of this year’s funds were used to replace old rope lights on figurines with LED rope lighting. 

There are currently over 200,000 lights on strands, LED lights on the shelters, Center Lake Pavilion and restroom building at Central Park. There are approximately 47 figurines as well as the manger scene.

The Christmas light display is a time-consuming project but one that is looked forward to eagerly each year by community members as well as out of town visitors.

Preparations typically begin with repair work in the shop in early October. The parks staff begins by checking and repairing all of the rope light figures and snowflakes.

They repair all sections of rope light that aren’t working. In some cases, this requires replacing the entire rope. 

“Then we check all 200,000 lights on strands,” Plummer said. “We have a spool of light strands that we unroll and check every strand and repair. We have a machine that identifies what bulbs are bad.”

Over the years, they have accumulated approximately 50 different types of bulbs, Plummer said, so it’s important to get the right repair in the correct strand.

“We use most of our crew for three weeks fixing and assembling our display,” Plummer said. “It takes about 600-700 hours for repairs and assembly.”

The display is generally able to be pulled down in a few days’ time, depending on the weather. The items are then transported to storage and put away in a systematic order to maximize use of the storage area, as the display continues to grow. One entire pole barn is dedicated for display storage.

“My crew has worked really hard to make this an enjoyable opportunity for the public to enjoy this holiday season,” Plummer said. “We want everyone to be able to experience the display and ask that we all do so in a safe manner, as the pandemic is still affecting everyone.”

Plummer requests that those touring the display area please stay on the paths. Social distancing is encouraged.

The display will be lit each evening from 4 p.m. to midnight through Dec. 31. 

A large modern Christmas tree is one of the main focal points of the display.