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Our waving Santa is 42 feet wide and 21 feet tall. He weighs in at … well, lets just say he isn’t the lightest thing in the world.

What does 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) get him assembled on the ground. Then one evening (usually during Tuesday night FD training) the FD comes over and within minutes raises him. (The same for lowering him.) Check out the video above.

With that manpower, it is literally just minutes.

A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO THE LEBANON EMERALD MOUND FIRE DEPARTMENT for all of your help over the years.

May we continue to work together on one of the favorite elements of our 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”.

Come see for yourself.

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.

LWW