KAIT8: Lights of the Delta Prepares for its 20th year
Published: Nov. 16, 2023 at 5:30 PM CST
Full story: https://www.kait8.com/2023/11/16/lights-delta-prepares-its-20th-year/
BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. (KAIT) - Blytheville is home to one of the most beautiful Christmas light displays in the area.
The Lights of the Delta is set to kick off Monday, and it is a culmination of months of hard work.
The holiday tradition is filled with tons of Christmas light displays, but in the past couple of years, it has gotten increasingly more difficult for the staff to prepare.
“Since COVID, sometimes we leave some of the bigger ones up because of the labor force during COVID fell, and then we work on them during the summer 3 or 4 months, and then we start putting them up in August,” said Charles Moody, the site manager.
He spends all of his time ensuring every exhibit is ready to go come Nov. 20.
“I have been getting out, working 16, 18 hours a day. Some of my help is coming out, too. Putting a lot of hours in it to make it really feel special this year,” Moody said.
Moody spends his days tying knots, fiddling with electricity, and searching for extension cords. Even when he has all his supplies, it is still a tedious process.
“The lights need to be tied down like this. These are stripes going here, but for the Santa Claus, I know it is a jumbled mess, but you have to tie the lights to get straight lines,” Moody said.
Moody and the staff thought of a fun way to involve the community in this year’s celebration. They asked children from around the area to submit ideas for a light display. They chose Crew Stracener, a fourth grader at Rivercrest, and Luke Larson, a second grader at Gosnell.
Moody said the biggest challenge is making it accurate to what the drawings looked like.
“It is a child’s drawing, so you have to make the display look like a child did it,” Moody said.
On the first day of the exhibit, the lights will be turned on by the two students who won the contest as a way to ring in the holiday season.
Lights of the Delta will run every night from Nov. 20 to Dec. 27.
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