The Light up the Park event in Madison Township will feature some additional illumination this year.
While fireworks are traditionally the main attraction, the 2021 edition of Light up the Park also consists of a tree lighting that will occur during a “Christmas in July” ceremony.
A 30-foot-tall blue spruce, adorned with Christmas lights, will be lit up at 9:15 p.m., July 23. The traditional Light up the Park celebration, consisting of a daylong festival leading up to fireworks at dusk, is slated for July 24.
Both events will take place at Madison Township Park, located at the intersection of Lake and Hubbard roads.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Light up the Park, which typically is scheduled for the Sunday before Labor Day.
Like many other community events, Light up the Park was canceled in 2020 because of health and safety risks posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
When a decision was made to bring back the celebration this year, organizers chose to conduct the event in late July rather than on Labor Day weekend.
“We wanted to move Light up the Park forward because the community needs something positive sooner than later,” said event organizer Max Sorensen.
He was referring to the desire of people to resume normal rituals after enduring so many restrictions during the COVID-19 crisis.
Sorensen is chairman of the Madison Joint Recreation District Board’s Light up the Park Subcommittee. The district took over administration of the event shortly after it was held in 2019.
The event began as an idea proposed by Sorensen, who owns the Wagon Wheel Restaurant and Max’s Carry Out, which are located across the street from Madison Township Park on Hubbard Road.
Sorensen and some of his fellow bar and restaurant owners from that same section planned and carried out the first Light up the Park celebration. In subsequent years, the committee’s original cast of business owners expanded to include other community-minded Madison residents.
Sorensen, Tim Sizemore and Terri Wagoner all served simultaneously on the independent Light up the Park Committee and the Madison Joint Recreation District Board at the time that the rec board took over running the annual event. All three continue to serve as members of the rec board’s subcommittee.
The Madison Joint Recreation District also sponsors Septemberfest, a beer and wine festival held annually on Labor Day weekend. Sorensen noted that holding the two events six weeks apart will help the rec board in its efforts to smoothly coordinate and carry out two major events.
Sorensen said that his wife, Susan, suggested starting an annual Christmas tree lighting at Madison Township Park.
To turn that vision into a reality, the rec board obtained a blue spruce tree, which was donated by Brotzman’s Nursery in Madison Township. The tree has been planted at Township Park between the baseball-field scoreboard and Lake Road.
“That tree will be lit every year (on) Thanksgiving weekend and it will stay lit through the holidays as our new community Christmas tree,” Sorensen said.
To introduce the tree to the community, the rec board decided to hold an initial tree lighting one night before the 2021 Light up the Park festival and fireworks show. The tree ceremony has been titled as “Light up the Park Christmas in July.”
The tree will be decorated with Christmas lights purchased by the rec board. Plans call for the tree to be lit up all weekend to coincide with Light up the Park.
On July 24, the daylong Light up the Park program kicks off at noon with a festival.
Family Fun Day will include a Kids Zone, hosted by Madison High School cheerleaders; and crafters and food vendors.
Other scheduled activities for Fun Day are:
• 1 p.m. — Opening ceremony with the flag raising presented by American Legion Post 112 Color Guard.
• 1 to 3 p.m. — Sign in for the Punt, Pass and Kick competition hosted by Madison Blue Streak Youth Football.
• 1 to 3 p.m. — Alpacas, Alpacas, Alpacas hosted by The Madison Alpaca Farm.
• 3 p.m. — A Life Flight helicopter is scheduled to arrive and offer tours to festival guests.
• 4 p.m. — Madison Combined Martial Arts Exhibition.
• 6 p.m. — Man’s Best Friend Dog Training Exhibition.
• 8 p.m. — Drawings (50/50, Chinese auction).
Fireworks are expected to start around 9:30 p.m., and the display is slated to last 22 minutes, Sorensen said.
The 2021 Light up the Park golf outing raised all of the money needed to pay for the fireworks show, he added.
"light" - Google News
July 22, 2021 at 03:23AM
https://ift.tt/3kIKTvK
Light up the Park festivities slated in Madison Township - News-Herald.com
"light" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Wm8QLw
https://ift.tt/2Stbv5k
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Light up the Park festivities slated in Madison Township - News-Herald.com"
Post a Comment