Season of lights
Three popular drive-through light shows have thrown the switch on their holiday seasons.
Rite Aid Celebration of Lights
At Hartwood Acres in Indiana Township, two new configurations of lights are making their debut, according to Andy Baechle, director of Allegheny County Parks. One of them, at the entrance, announces the event's new corporate sponsor. Formerly known as the Eckerd Celebration of Lights, this year's Hartwood light display reflects the company's new name, The Rite Aid Celebration of Lights.
The other new display depicts the North Pole Express, a 124-foot-long train with cars that are 20 feet high. Baechle says that, according to a new three-year contract with Rite Aid, the Hartwood attraction will feature two new displays each of the next two years.
The park's maintenance supervisor, Dave Allison, says more than 3 million lights are used in the holiday exhibit.
"Most people are awestruck" when they visit the attraction for the first time, he says, adding that he and the park staff have been building the lighted decorations since late September.
In addition to the lights, holiday music can be heard through a speaker system during the "Twelve Days of Christmas" portion of the show. Visitors also can tune to 88.7 FM on their car radios for continuous music as they drive through the display, Allison says. The best time to visit Hartwood to avoid long traffic lines is on weekday evenings, he says. The display is busiest on weekends and holidays.
Baechle says more than 50,000 cars annually wind through the Hartwood display.
The display is open daily through Jan 13. Hours are 6 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and Dec. 24 and 31; and 6 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is $12 per car, and proceeds benefit local charities. Hartwood Acres is on Saxonburg Boulevard in Indiana Township.
Details: 877-548-3874.
Overly's Country Christmas
Stephanie Tomasic, executive director of Overly's Country Christmas at Westmoreland County Fairgrounds, says the shining attraction that makes them unique is not so much the 4.2 million lights in the drive-through display, but the Christmas Village that covers five acres of the 15-acre site.
"Families can park their cars and walk through the Christmas Village to experience the nostalgia of an old-fashioned Christmas," she says.
Included is a G-gauge model train display, a country kitchen where sandwiches and freshly baked cookies may be purchased, a gift shop, Santa's Workshop, a vintage toys exhibit and more. Tomasic says one of the favorite activities for children and adults is meeting Henny Hemlock, the talking Christmas tree.
A bonfire is part of the festivities every night, Tomasic says, and sleigh rides (weather permitting), wagon rides and Kids Express train rides are available for an additional charge.
A new illuminated display in the 2.4 million-light drive-through portion of Overly's attraction is a wetlands area that includes lighted leaping frogs, flying fish, cattails and lily pads.
Overly's Country Christmas, at Westmoreland Fairgrounds, 116 Blue Ribbon Lane, Norvelt, is open 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 5:30 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Jan. 1. Admission is $10 per car or family van, or $12 per limousine, extended passenger van or minibus on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays; $8 and $10, respectively, Mondays through Thursdays. Wagon/sleigh rides are $4.50, $2.50 for children; Kids Express train rides, $1.75 (weather permitting), 6 to 10 p.m. daily.
Details: 724-423-1400, 800-968-3759.
Oglebay's Winter Festival of Lights
A new walking tour that re-creates Sally Oglebay's personal garden when the Wheeling, W.Va., resort was her and her husband Earle's private summer estate from 1901-1926 is the new attraction this season at Oglebay Resort and Conference Center .
Caren Knoyer, marketing director for the resort, says the 16-acre garden area that serves as a walking path for Oglebay guests from spring to fall has been transformed into a colorful Gardens of Light for the Winter Festival of Lights.
"We've taken the garden that everybody loves and made it into lights," she says. The parking area from the Carriage House to the Mansion Museum and a brick walking path from the visitors center to the museum feature 150 hanging baskets of light. Additional lighted flowers and trees are animated and choreographed to holiday music.
Electrical engineer Carson Williams of Mason, Ohio, who created a light display last year at Oglebay's Good Zoo, returned to the Winter Festival of Lights this year to orchestrate the animation of the hanging light baskets and lighted flowers, Knoyer says.
"We recommend that guests visit the drive-through portion of the show and then park their cars and stroll through the Gardens of Light," she says. The winter festival light display covers more than 300 acres over a six-mile drive throughout the resort.
Oglebay's Winter Festival of Lights, 60 miles from Pittsburgh at Oglebay Resort and Conference Center in Wheeling, W.Va., is open from dusk to 11 p.m. daily through Jan. 6. Suggested donation, $10 per car, is valid for the entire season. Those making a $20 donation will receive a DVD of the festival and the resort. Trolley tours are offered several times each night beginning at Wilson Lodge. Seats are $6 each. Reservations for the trolley are taken at the lodge front desk on the day of the tour only. Overnight packages, starting at $99, are available during the festival at the lodge.
Details: 800-624-6988.
