Christmas lights will turn-off for the season at Holiday Park after New Year’s Day.

“Christmas is never over,” said Jeff Atkins, City of St. Joseph Assistant Parks Dir. “We’ll start tearing the displays down on January 3.  Our staff is off on January 2 because of the New Year’s holiday.”

Atkins said it takes a couple of weeks to get all of the lights put away.

“We’ve always got plans going for things we want to do in the future.  So we’re already discussing next year of course,” Atkins said. “I’ve got two or three of my guys that if they could work on Christmas lighting year round that’s all they’d want to do.”

Atkins said the number of people who came through the park this year has been based on the number of Cherry Mash that have been handed out.

“Our numbers were really doing well this year until we lost three days due to the ice storm. But based on the amount of candy we were giving away I actually had to call and order more,” Atkins said. “I’m thinking we would easily have reached the 85,000 visitor number.”

Atkins said next year, a demographic study will be held at Holiday Park.

“We will actually keep track of each vehicle as it comes through as far as the zip-code of the driver and how many people are in the car.  That way we are able to determine how many people are coming each night, how far they’re willing to travel to come,” he said.

New features at the park this year included the waterfall lit-up in the lagoon, some new features to the stage area, and new LED lighting.

“The new LED lighting is making such a difference. It’s just so much brighter and crisp and it just really makes the displays jump out at you,” Atkins said. “It’s really a whole new look at the park.”

Other than converting the park to LED lighting Atkins said funding for the displays is provided by free-will donations from patrons who visit every year.