Preparation for Holiday Park is well underway in St. Joseph with a little over a week left until opening day.

Work starts about eight weeks before opening day with crews checking wires and lights to see what needs replaced or fixed.

This will be the 37th year of Holiday Park. St. Joseph Parks, Recreation & Civic Facilities Assistant Director Jeff Atkins said the East Hills Optimist Club came to the Director of Parks at the time and asked if the club and volunteers could turn Krug Park into a holiday display.

“The community had been used to having the Candy Cane Lane area on Gene Field decorated and, the families there, it had just gotten too big for them to do and they had to quit doing their display. So for quite a few years, St. Joseph didn’t have an organized Christmas display and their goal was to bring that back,” Atkins said. “So they started this 37 years ago and now here we are, each year we get a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger. Our crowds keep growing a little bit, we’re up to right around 90,000 people a year will drive through the park during the month and look at our lights.”

Because of the growing number of people visiting Holiday Park each year, Atkins said they have set up another line at the park’s exit.

“Everybody has to stop, of course, get their free Cherry Mash and we do take collections. The local Optimist Clubs volunteer their time and… the money they collect is what funds the next year’s park,” Atkins said. “The last three or four years, the City has been contributing because we’ve had to make a change over from our incandescent lighting to the new LED lighting. They are a little bit more expensive, so the City is contributing money while we’re making this transition… but pretty much it’s the pennies, the nickels, the dimes, the dollars that people drop in at the end is what funds the park for years to come.”

Atkins said over the years they have always tried to add something new to Holiday Park whether it be big or small. This year, Atkins said they have added to the Holiday Express train next to Santa and the reindeer and are making some changes to the 12 Days of Christmas display.

“We still want to keep the Christmas feel, but we’re trying to design our displays now so they’re just a little bit more durable and a little bit easier to maintain,” Atkins said. “The Christmas lights at times are so fragile and… we’re just trying to come up with more durable designs and the 12 Days of Christmas will be our first attempt at that for this year.”

Atkins said with the increasing number of people visiting each year, the popularity of Holiday Park is growing across the state.

“We were just recently mentioned in an article in a Jefferson City magazine. They publish a monthly magazine for their city, and we were picked as the number two destination to come and view holiday lights this year,” Atkins said. “They’re suggesting that their people drive from Jeff City to come up and enjoy our light display, so that made us feel real good, made us proud of that.”

Holiday Park will be open from 6 to 10 p.m. starting Friday, Nov. 23rd, and each night through January 1st.