Plug pulled on Lincoln Lights
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By ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star
It’s enough to make The Grinch crack a smile from ear to ear: Two long-standing Lincoln Christmas traditions have been canceled this year.
First, the Updowntowners canceled the annual holiday lighting ceremony in which the mayor lights up the downtown to kick off the Star City Holiday Festival.
Costs and logistics were among the reasons for pulling the plug, according to Deb Johnson, the group’s executive director.
Now, the Cornhusker Council of the Boy Scouts of America is shutting down its annual Lincoln Lights display at Mahoney Park at 70th and Fremont streets.
“They felt that the event had run its course,” the council’s executive director, Mike Hale, said Monday.
Lincoln Lights, with the help of area businesses, began in 1997 as a way to raise money for scouting programs. The event, which featured more than 100,000 lights, attracted thousands of visitors from mid-November to early January. They could stay in their warm vehicles and drive through the park, viewing dozens of lighting displays featuring snowmen, leaping reindeers, elves, angels, a giant castle and scouting and holiday themes.
Initially, Lincoln Lights grossed about $158,000, according to Hale. However, last year’s gross receipts totaled about $36,000.
Declining attendance, increasing costs for lighting displays and difficulty in getting volunteers to staff the event also contributed to the council’s decision to end the holiday lighting extravaganza, Hale said.
The money was used to benefit scouting programs in Southeast Nebraska. The Cornhusker Council serves almost 8,000 young men and women in a 16-county area.
Meanwhile, the council is looking at other ways to raise money. Earlier this month, the organization held a wine-tasting event and auction at Scrumpy Jacks restaurant in the Edgewood Shopping Center. More than 160 people attended.
“It didn’t raise the money that Lincoln Lights did, but it did not tax our resources either,” Hale said.
The council is considering hosting similar events. Meanwhile, the organization said, it still needs funds to help youngsters participate in scouting.
According to the council, donations are off because of a sluggish economy and attacks from “several special interest groups.” The Boy Scouts of America has been criticized for its anti-gay stance. Hale said those types of attacks are an issue nationally but not locally.
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.
Lincoln Lights traffic
Attendance for Lincoln Lights, the annual holiday lighting display sponsored by the Cornhusker Council, has steadily declined over the years. Here are the number of vehicles that toured the display each year:
1997: 18,000
1998: 16,840
1999: 13,181
2000: 10,753
2001: 11,605
2002: 9,840
2003: 8,067
2004: 7,300
Source: Cornhusker Council
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