Springfield's holiday lights display will conclude on January 1.
Not all of Santa’s elves are at the North Pole.
This weekend you can find a couple of Santa’s pointy-eared friends tossing packages at Bright Nights at Forest Park and welcoming light seekers at the gates to the largest holiday light display in all of the Northeast.
“Our elves don’t necessarily dress in full elf regalia, but we affectionately call them our ‘elf helpers’ because they greet visitors as they drive up to our gates,” said Judith A. Matt, president, Spirit of Springfield, organizers of the annual light fest along with the Springfield Department of Parks, Buildings and Recreation Management.
Two of those elves are twins Michael and Christina Orellana who have risen in the elf ranks since they began working at Bright Nights four years ago while in high school.
“We started as greeters welcoming customers, giving them a Bright Nights program book, and telling them to put their parking lights on while driving through the park to see all the displays,” said Michael Orellana, a freshman at Westfield State University.
“I love interacting with people and everyone brings their Christmas spirit to Bright Nights which has become a tradition for many of them. Some even come dressed up for the ride and are already listening to Christmas music in the car before entering the park,” he added.
And just as Bright Nights has become a tradition for many over the years, it’s an Orellana family tradition, too.
“We live right across the street and have been going through Bright Nights since we were young….we do it with all of our cousins,” said Christina Orellana, a freshman at UMass Amherst, who noted she and her brother somehow knew they would eventually work at the holiday event.
“This year our younger sister Jackie is working alongside us,” she added.
Matt noted the elves have been “super” busy this year and that Bright Nights is experiencing a “very bright” year.
“Our opening night was our second busiest ever since opening Bright Nights back in 1994,” said Matt.
And, the accolades which have piled up over the years continue, with Yahoo.com listing Bright Nights at Forest Park as one of “America’s Best Places for Holiday Lights.
“We’re the first that you see when you go to the Yahoo travel page detailing the best places,” said Matt.
There’s still time for a ride through the park before Bright Night ends as the New Year begins. Once again this year during their festive travels through the park, visitors will enter the Bright Nights enchanted forest through some larger-than-life poinsettias in Poinsettia Fantasy, then continue their tour viewing displays called American Flag, Kwanzaa, Nativity, Winter Garden, Seuss Land, Letters to Santa, Garden of Peace, Jurassic World, Victorian Village, Barney Mansion, Leaping Frog, Winter Woods, North Pole Village, Toy Land, Giant Poinsettia Candles and Happy Holidays, Springfield.
Santa, the real one, not the colorful, brightly-lit display, has been in his cottage get-away at Bright Nights since it began, and he will continue to meet with all good little boys and girls nightly and have his picture taken with them through Dec. 24 at 8 p.m. when he heads back home to the North Pole to begin his yearly journey around the world on Christmas Eve.
On the way to his cottage in Santa’s Magical Forest, visitors will find singing elves and dancing trees where there is also a snack shop nestled outdoors serving hot and cold snacks. Santa’s cottage also doubles as the Bright Nights Gift Shop, which Matt said is “the perfect answer to some last minute shopping.”
For those who want to experience Bright Nights in the open air, other than just rolling down the car windows, there are horse-drawn wagon and carriage rides – wagon rides every Friday, Saturday and Sunday with reservations accepted on Friday and Sunday, carriage rides on Friday and Saturday nights
Despite all their success so far this year, there is only one thing missing, said Matt – snow.
“A ground cover of snow adds a special magic to Bright Nights as our thousands of colorful lights reflect off of a pillow of freshly fallen snow,” said Matt.
But, snow lovers, don’t despair. Bright Nights is open through Jan. 1 and since it’s New England, the weather can change in an instant. Or maybe not.