Photo TR: Decorating Delmarva

[printersdevil78]

In the spirit of Christmas Eve, I thought I'd post some photos from a really cool event we attended Friday evening. Earlier this year, a local gentleman announced the formation of the Create1Dream Foundation and its signature fundraiser, the Decorating Delmarva Festival of Lights at the U.S. 13 Dragway in Delmar, DE. To be honest, it didn't really seem like anything I'd be interested in. There are roughly 8 bajillion places to do the drive-through-Christmas-lights thing within three hours of where we live; I've been to approximately all of them at some point in my lifetime, and they're all pretty much the same.

 

So one day a couple weeks ago I was driving past the dragway on a different route home from work than I normally take so I could stop at a particular store along the way to pick up a Christmas present and I saw the flashing, spinning lights of... a Paratrooper? That got my attention! I looked into it a little more, and at $15 a carload, Kelly and I decided to round up her parents and make this our "drive-through Christmas lights" stop this year.

 

I'm so glad we did. I expected the regular Christmas light display that everyone else has. Instead, it was more like a smaller, more low-key version of the European Christmas carnivals I've seen photos of elsewhere on TPR (minus the alcohol, Mrs. Claus reminded me, as I shared my observation with her while chatting in the Santa line). And it had a strong community component. The civic group I'm involved with had a chance to participate, and we turned it down. Next year, I'm strongly suggesting that we get involved.

 

In the meantime, merry Christmas, TPR... and enjoy!

After paying at the ticket booth and tuning our radio to the proper station, where a number of DJs from local commercial stations took turns acknowledging the sponsors and explaining how the event works, we were directed to take Exit 1 toward the first leg of the light display.

Instead of the same rebar-PVC-and-C9-lights that everyone else has, Decorating Delmarva converted the area into a faux village run by Santa and his reindeer, complete with appropriate corresponding sponsors. A local garage, for example, sponsored Prancer's Garage, the Local Owner Restaurant Association sponsored Rudolph's Diner, Comcast (which produces a local education program) sponsored the North Pole Schoolhouse, etc. It was very innovative and refreshingly different.

On the final legs of the "lights," local non-profit organizations like churches, schools and civic clubs were invited to create their own displays for the six-week event. At the end, patrons are asked to vote for the display they liked best in each category, and the winning non-profits receive cash donations. It was a great idea, and since some categories had only one entrant, it really offered a low-to-no-risk way for some groups to raise funds while promoting themselves in the community.

Local businesses also were encouraged to set up displays. This one was pretty neat; the guy actually recreated his storefront in miniature. You could tell he put in a lot more effort than some of the others.

After the lights, we were directed to a parking lot, where we could get out and explore the rest of the festival. We parked next to the monster truck school bus!

Lauryn can almost fit in the tire!

This was the Paratrooper that piqued my curiosity in the first place. It was the only ride in the carnival portion of the event that Lauryn didn't ride; she had a bad experience on one of these a couple years ago, unfortunately.

Including the Paratrooper, the carnival consisted of only four rides, but for the size and scope of the event, that was plenty, and the kids there had a ball. Others included the train...

...bumper cars...

...and Boomer's Ball Park. Why do they call it a "ball park"?

That's why!

In case the unique-looking Dino on the side of the Boomer's setup didn't clue you in, they don't care much for copyright law in these parts....

Here's Lauryn with Geoff... er, I mean, "Jimmy" the giraffe. I tried to explain to her who Geoffrey the Giraffe was. It made me feel old.

Piggy eats the trash!

Kelly has crabs! (She totally asked me to take this picture and post it with that caption. I'm sure I'll get in trouble for it, anyway.)

Disembodied elephant head says... "Stay in school!"

They also had a couple of games, though they weren't drawing much attention.

The guy at the fishbowl game had the right idea--he was offering to let kids play for free, and if they "won," their parents had to pay to make it count. Fortunately for us, Lauryn has the hand-eye coordination of a 2-year-old. He let her try 10 times, and the ping pong ball didn't even reach the array of fishbowls on eight of those throws.

They had a few clever ways of acknowledging the sponsors, including these oversized Christmas cards.

Major sponsors, of course, like this home builder, received much larger displays.

In the "food court" section, they had fire pits for making s'mores. I guess when you have enough insurance to run a dragway, adding a rider to cover visitors standing within 12 inches of an open flame really isn't all that expensive, comparatively speaking. Either way, it was a neat idea.

The rest of the "food court" consisted of trailers and food trucks run by the carnival and local vendors.

Santa piggies!

Um... yes, please! I got the hot chocolate, which was good. Kelly and Lauryn opted for the apple cider, which was even better.

Pumpkin funnel cake? Holy crap! Santa got my letter!

Unfortunately, the pumpkin funnel cake tasted more like warm Crisco ladled over cold Crisco, fried crunchy and topped with grease that was past its prime. It's the only time I can remember that the three of us didn't polish off an entire funnel cake in one sitting, and in this instance, we made it only about a third of the way through before tossing it out. The churros, which Lauryn was thrilled with (she calls them "Disneyland sticks"). weren't much better, in my opinion. The fried pickles, however, were very good, though I usually prefer the chips over the spears.

Pictured, from left: Kelly, Lauryn and a Disneyland stick.

The event wasn't crowded that night, though I had expected it to be packed the weekend before Christmas. I suspect the rain earlier that day that made the grounds rather muddy, along with temperatures that night that dropped into the 30s following two straight weeks of unseasonably warm weather, probably had something to do with it. Either way, the indoor, heated "Santa's Village" section provided a nice respite from the cold.

Inside, local vendors as far as the eye could see! Some were selling things, but most were giving away samples or providing demonstrations. It reminded me of a state fair in some respects.

Throughout the "village," they had entries in the event's coloring contest hung on the walls. Patrons were asked to vote on the one they liked best.

The Santa line wasn't long, but Santa spent quality time with each child, so there was a slight wait. As noted earlier, Mrs. Claus was there, too. They had a photographer, but unlike 99 percent of these types of setups, he was just kind of there in case someone didn't have a camera. In fact, he didn't even take a picture unless he was asked. You could take all the photos you wanted with your own camera or phone, which was a really nice perk.

Finally, we ended up at Santa's Entertainment Arena.

This is the stage where live entertainment is provided. They had a local school chorus performing at some point that evening, but we didn't stick around for it.

This was also the "Festival of Trees" area, where Christmas trees decorated by local middle school students (or, more likely, staff) were on display. Once again, visitors were asked to vote on the one they liked best, and the winning school received a prize or donation. I apologize for the less-than-stellar quality; unfortunately, my camera doesn't do well with miniature lights.

And, of course, like any good themed attraction, you exit through the gift shop! But don't worry; we'll be back next year.

 

Thanks for reading!