A small Foothills village is expected to draw big crowds the next three months as it brightens spirits along Highway 22. Longview staff and volunteers will have as many as 40,000 LED lights strung up and shining bright on buildings, trees and fences throughout the village from Nov. 30 to mid-February. Longview CAO Dale Harrison said it’s not just a Christmas lighting display, but also a way to create a positive ambiance in the community of more than 300 people and to brighten the moods of those passing through. “Winter has long, dark nights and we get a lot of traffic coming through because we’ve got people who go to the east Kootenays to go skiing,” he said. “You’re driving in the dark and then you hit this bright spot and it creates a positive feeling in people when they see all these lights. It’s about creating a winter wonderland of this bright oasis in the middle of a dark desert.” The lights turn on Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. during Light Up Longview festivities in the Tales and Trails Campground, which includes wagon ride tours of the lights, carolling and hot dog-roasting on a bonfire. Harrison said this year marks the second Light Up Longview, which kicked off last fall with a hot dog roast at the Twin Cities Hotel and fire truck rides offered by the Longview Fire Department. “It was so windy and because we didn’t have snow we had sparks flying out of a fairly large fire and a grassy field behind the hotel,” said Harrison. “We had to shut the fire down relatively early because of concerns about starting a grass-fire.” Hosting Light Up in the campground means the public will have easy access to firepits, washrooms and the bulk of the lights, said Harrison. Many of the lights throughout the village will be tied into the Village’s streetlights. Harrison estimates the cost to light up the village is between $300 and $500 for the two and a half months. “We’ve got everything on timers so they come on at dusk and stay on until approximately midnight,” he said. “We’re trying to make things bright for people.” For Harrison, Light Up Longview is about drawing people to the village. “It’s to make it a destination for people to enjoy the lights, have something to eat in one of the restaurants and fill up their gas tank,” he said. In its first year last year, Harrison said village staff and volunteers scrambled to get the lights up throughout the village. “We were buying lights that came on sale and on Kijiji and hanging lights even after Christmas,” he said. “Last year it was along the highway from the school all the way down to the fire hall.” This year, the lights will also decorate Centennial Park and some will be set up at the village office and campground to correspond with music, said Harrison. “I came across some light sequencers, which is a machine that plays Christmas music and the lights will go on and off to the beat of the music,” he said. South of the village where there are fewer trees, staff and volunteers have set up structures to light up including a Christmas star and will use solar energy to light up Longview’s south sign, Harrison said. “We figure that we have somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000 lights and probably around 14,000 feet of lights,” he said. “Maybe some day they’ll be able to see Longview from satellites.”
