By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com
Rain or shine, Deb Goyen and her groups of volunteers (plus city employees) have been busy putting up Christmas displays and lights in Pratt’s Lemon Park, all in preparation for this Saturday’s (November 23) Christmas in the Park event.
“We started with 18 displays, 33 years ago, and now we are well over 100,” Goyen said. “It’s just a lot of fun. We keep adding things, taking away some that don’t work, but mostly adding new and interesting items each year.”
This year, the Lemon Park Lights will feature a new spiky drive-through station call Ice Thorns, something Goyen saw elsewhere and wanted to incorporate in the Pratt Christmas lights experience.
“We’ve got them in and will have them put up in time for Saturday,” she said. “They are a memorial for my mom, Marge Parker, and for Marilyn Adams. They lived together at Parkwood Village and would have just loved to see this.”
Also new this year will be a big water tower (the old-fashioned train station kind seen in old Western movies) with a deer sticking out of the top.
“That one will be placed by the train, in honor of Dennis Swaintech who was a train engineer,” Goyen said. “It is reminiscent of a scene from Petticoat Junction, with that deer sticking out of the top because Dennis was also a hunter.”
Mrs. Claus (as in Santa) will be waving from near the Christmas train as a memorial for Pat Robertson, there is a new dove in the trees of Angel Alley in honor of Lynda Higdon, and a green and gold Christmas tree in memory of the late USD 382 administrator/teacher Jason May (located on the North side by the school bus). Those are the new items added to the other 100 or so displays from year’s past, near and far. Everyone seems to have a favorite, and it isn’t always what one might expect.
Goyen said having a 5th grade class from Pratt Academic Center come help set up lights one day last week was enlightening.
“I asked them what their favorites were, and everyone had something different, and it wasn’t what I would have expected for some,” Goyen said. “I just love how the people who help take ownership in their displays, and then they bring their families and out-of-town relatives in to see what they helped with. That’s the best,” Goyen said.
Also high on Goyen’s list of things to be thankful for in this holiday season is the help she gets from organizations and businesses in town that take responsibility for the set-up and tear-down of displays each year.
“There is just no way we could do this without the faithful 10-or-so groups that come in every year and know just what to do, what their displays are, where they go, and how to plug them in,” she said. “It is so wonderful how everyone helps and I know I can count on them. It literally takes a village to set up some of these sections and the volunteers helping make this such a special event here in Pratt.”
The year the Lemon Park Lights will be switched on at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 23, after a festival countdown and amid much celebrating and joy. Festivities for Christmas in the Park start at 3 p.m. and will include band music, Santa Claus visits and pictures, gymnastics groups, the Pratt Community College cheerleaders performing, additional musical numbers, Miss Kansas, and an array of clubs helping out with free popcorn, apple cider, hot chocolate and more. There will also be food trucks on site, horse-drawn wagon rides, barrel train rides, and a holiday atmosphere to enjoy.
This is a free admission event. All are welcome to attend.
