A great organization of young people (high school age) is the FFA. Originally known as the “Future Farmers of America” they are now known as simply “FFA”. Still with the same excitement and zeal to learn, the members of the FFA are a great bunch of young adults and do their organization proud.
Before the display opened, FFA assisted us this year in several projects in the park. From raising the “bulb tree” (new in 2022) to assisting with assembling Waving Santa, this group of wonderful young adults deserves the title of “some of the best.”
If you happen to see them greeting people on the front gate, stop and tell them how much their contribution is appreciated in this year’s display.
Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to working with you in the future.
Our original waving Santa was 42 feet wide and 21 feet tall. He weighed in at … well, lets just say he isn’t the lightest thing in the world. (Rumor has it that he weighed in at close to 2000 pounds!)
What did it take to raise Santa? Well, the whole Lebanon Emerald Mound Fire Department!
For years, the Fire Department has assisted us to raise Santa in November and take him down again in January. We (LWW) assembled him on the ground. Then one evening (usually during Tuesday night FD training) the FD came over and within minutes raised him. (The same for lowering him.) Check out the video above.
With that manpower, it was literally just minutes.
A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO THE LEBANON EMERALD MOUND FIRE DEPARTMENT for all of your help over the years.
We would also like to thank the young men and women of the Wednesday Night Bible Study Group who stepped up to assist when the fire department was unable to. You guys and galls did a great job!
Waving Santa is being retired – for now. Don’t worry though, check out our new Santa and sign!
Lebanon’s Winter Wonderland is a small group of VOLUNTEERS that put on a yearly holiday (Christmas) display starting the Friday before Thanksgiving running through the last day of December. The thing that makes it go, and has made it successful since 2008, has been VOLUNTEERS.
As in many organizations, our core group is made up of experienced members of the community. We are dedicated, but we are few. We are looking for additional members, of all ages, to assist with the work at hand and to bring new ideas and perspectives. We welcome the help!
The group meets monthly from January through September (sometimes October) on the third-Thursday of the month, in the Lebanon Fire Department training room, 6 PM. (Enter through the south door.) During October through January, you can find us in the park on most weekends and some weekdays.
It is really simple. Our loyal fans keep coming and new fans join them every year! Their donations each year make it possible for us to continue to expand. Expanded displays need more hands setting them up, taking them down, as well as maintaining them. Expansion also takes new ideas.
” No experience necessary. Just a willingness to bring a smile to a lot of people! “
Besides – we train!
Did you know: We start putting all the props out (staging) at Horner Park during early to mid October. Setup of those props happens during late October and early November. We open the Friday before Thanksgiving, and close at end-of-day on December 31. Teardown and storage happens during the month of January.
You may have heard us when you stop at the greeters’ hut, “After we pay the bills (electric, insurance, rental of the park) all remaining donations go directly to the display. We are all volunteers and no one gets paid!” This is so true!!!
Better yet, join us at our monthly meeting (see above). See what our plans are, who does what, and mostly – come meet and be a part of a great group of folks!
Please consider being part of this great community function! Come on out, have some fun, and put a smile on more than a few faces!
Our first animated show from 2012. What a difference from today’s display!
One of the many different display areas is our animated light show, affectionately called (by the crew that puts it up) “Blinky”.
It is a modern day, computer controlled display that pretty much covers all of “Mole Valley”. (The valley next to the large parking lot and the Park Hall.) It combines music and motion. It takes time and energy to plan, program (we call it sequencing), put it up, and take it back down again.
The amount of time varies (for a full on “Blinky Head”) from a full year and 365 days. The energy is in building new props, wiring them, and then sequencing them (not necessarily in that order.)
Actually, the greatest current need is in assembling the show at the end of October and then taking it back down the first week of January. Anyone can assist! (No technical knowledge required.)
If you are interested in doing more, we are also looking for those that would like to learn how to make the magic happen. Prop building is “hands on” and takes place at Al’s place. Sequencing can be done at your home, on a computer using special software that is freely available. We do train!!! (We also are available to help you through some of the learning curve. It is not bad, but there is a little.)
If you would like to know more, or already know that you would like to get involved, contact Al Gerdes (Blinky Master), 618 660 7621 or send an email to al@apgenterprises.com.
Though it sounds hard, it actually is very easy to do. It is extremely rewarding when you see it “come to life”.
There are only a few things that can shut down our display – Lack of electricity and weather!
Lack of Electricity
If, for any reason, we lose power to the park – we have to shut down the display. (What would a display that uses lights in so many ways be like without electricity to turn those lights on?)
Weather
Rain (lots of it) – We use a lot of electrical cords, and they are everywhere. If we get enough rain (as we did in 2015), then the park does flood. When this happens, we have to shut everything down. Thankfully this phenomenon has only happened a couple of times in our history.
Snow and Ice – More likely to shut us down is heavy snow and ice. (This has happened several times over the years, such as 4 days in 2019.) The drop behind the dam is pretty steep and deep. When it gets slippery cars (and tow trucks) can get stuck down behind the dam. There is also the fact that several times in the mile long drive, the road comes close to the lake. (Literally within feet!)
We monitor the roads when we have this type of weather. When our road treatments don’t work, we have to shut things down for the safety of all.
We hope you understand and will join us after we clear the roads and certify that they are passable.
Watch our announcements on this website
We will try to post announcements on this website, and Facebook, when it is necessary to shut things down. Watch for information posted to the scrolling message at the top of the main page.
Thank you for your understanding. We look forward to seeing you.
Each year all of us at Lebanon’s Winter Wonderland receive a gift from McKendree University. Between 20 and 40 young students descend on Horner Park to spend part of a day to help us with our display.
McKendree calls it “Into The Streets”. All ‘new to the university’ students are sent out to interact with the people around the school. It is a great way for them to meet us, and for us to learn about them. In the doing, a lot of work gets done.
For us at LWW, that means maintenance of our props – usually the cutouts which need painting – but not always. There have been some very sore fingers out there from helping create some of the animated light show props. (Pushing Pixels isn’t all that easy.) There has also been a great amount of paint used to update and maintain our legacy wooden props. They have done well enough that we still have the vast majority of the wooden props even after all of these years. (Wooden props were originally created in 2007/2008 for our first display in 2008.)
We want to make sure the students that have come to assist us over the years understand how much we appreciate their assistance. You do more in a few hours than we could do in weeks.
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:
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.
