Lebanon’s Winter Wonderland (LWW – The organization) is a small group of volunteers that come together to put on a yearly holiday display in Horner Recreational Park just outside of the northern Lebanon, Illinois city limits. Since its inception in 2007 with an inaugural display from November 21, 2008 to December 27, 2008, LWW has maintained and put on a display each year in the park for the enjoyment of all.

Originally called “Christmas in the Park”, The founders of LWW wanted to foster community involvement throughout the year, with a “spectacular holiday display” at the end of the year. Many organizations and business concerns provided funds and manpower to make the first display happen. Many volunteers found themselves with paint brush and jig saw in hand.

The original “Christmas in the Park” organization was a committee under the Horner Park Board of Commissioners. Shortly afterward, Lebanon’s Winter Wonderland (LWW) was born as a separate 501c3 entity, no longer part of the Park Board.

Initially, 186 hand made cutouts were assembled and painted by folks from all walks of life and from areas ranging from Vandalia to St Louis. Members of Scott AFB, and prisoners from Vandalia Correctional got involved. Many members of the Lebanon community, and some from outside, held different events (including golf tournaments and chili cookoffs) to raise funds to get things started. The former Ministerial Alliance provided the original nativity scene, Lebanon High School students volunteered to paint a good number of the wooden props, and Scott Air Force Base personnel created a “salute to the military”. Many days and weekends were spent putting the “old school” props together.

Did you know that before the formation of “Christmas in the Park” (and LWW) the park always shut down for the winter months?
Even in Winter and with no leaves on the trees, Horner Park is beautiful. A great asset for the whole Lebanon area.

Several of the larger lighted props were purchased for that first year. The skaters, the train, and waving Santa were purchased at great cost. A cost that was taken on as the committee was absolutely sure that donated funds would be received and the display would continue for many years.

One item in particular has been a huge hit each year (when he is assembled) and has set the whole display apart is still in use today – Waving Santa. Measuring over 40 feet wide and over 26 feet tall. His weight has been said to be over 2000 pounds (yes – over a ton). Verification of this is still on hold until we can find a scale big enough for him to step on.

Today’s display includes approximately 154 of those original wooden cutouts, patiently maintained over the years. The number of lighted wireframes has not been counted, but there are many!

The animated light show joined the display in 2011. It changes from year to year. In years past we had 5 “mega-trees”, but this year 4 of them have taken on a new look as different props around the animated display. The PEX tree, our first pixel prop, is not only still used, but is used in a key position. Additional props have been created and can be seen in “the Blinky show”. Take a look at the 4′ wide “Hattitudes” and “Showstopper Snowflakes.” Each of them has over 700 pixels in a small area. We can do some amazing things with them.

One thing you may not have noticed are all the lights strung alongside the road as it goes down behind the dam, back up and then across the dam itself. Thanks to donations given over the years, we have been able to purchase and deploy commercial grade LED lights in these areas.

Though we have increased our lighting by leaps and bounds over when we started, we actually use less electricity now than we did then. In fact, a LOT LESS. With this excess capacity, we plan to add more to the display as a whole over the coming years. Watch for your favorites as you travel the 9/10th of a mile drive, or stop and watch the animated show.

We invite anyone to propose something new to our display. Our mailing address is:

Lebanon’s Winter Wonderland
P.O. Box 97
Lebanon, Illinois 62254

Or better yet – come meet us in person at one of our monthly meetings. Held the third Thursday of every month from January to September in the Fire Department Training Room. We are there from 6PM till (usually) 7PM.
October, November and December we are in the park preparing and running the display. Any needed changes are posted here, on our website.

Thank you for taking the time to find out a little bit more about us and our display.

Editor Note: We are looking for all information pertaining to the early years of LWW. If you have anything about this time period, please contact Al Gerdes by email – al @ apgenterprises.com. Thank you.

Additional Note: Please excuse that earlier we erroneously reported the PO Box with the wrong number. PO Box 97 is correct.