Article Photos

Advertisement

Thanksgiving has yet to arrive and there's not even snow on the ground, but that hasn't stopped a local service club from from ringing in the holidays with an annual Christmas tradition.

Held in Oak Park, Sertoma Club of Minot's Christmas in the Park will begin its 12th year Friday, opening for the first visitors of the season at 6 p.m.

Brian Berg, co-chairperson of the Christmas in the Park committee, said funds raised by the show will go towards the general projects Sertoma regularly supports.

"Youth projects throughout the community, speech and hearing programs at Minot State (University), those are where all of the money we raise goes, not just the (Christmas in the) Park money," Berg said.

"Sertoma stands for 'Service To Mankind,' so that's what we're about. (We're) just a group of individuals in the community who like to do that kind of thing," Berg added. "We donated $50,000 to one of the new baseball diamonds over on the west side of town there (Jack Hoeven Park), and that's kind of our latest big donation."

The majority of the setup took place Saturday morning under beautiful skies that were in stark contrast to the blizzard-like conditions Sertoma members had to endure last year.

"For the middle of November it couldn't have been better," Berg said. "Last year I think we had a couple feet of snow when we did it at the same time (of month), so it just absolutely couldn't have been better."

While Sertoma got the displays they are responsible for set up, Berg said other businesses who lease space from Sertoma and erect their own displays will be setting them up in the days leading up to Friday.

The show will feature around 50 displays, many familiar to visitors of past shows, but with some new ones this year to spice things up a bit.

"A lot of them will be the same as previous years but we have some new ones, some really neat new ones this year," Berg said.

There are two displays in particular he is excited about. One is called "Old Man Winter" and features a giant Santa Claus head blowing out cold air.

"Then we have a large igloo and penguin display that's going to look very nice," he said.

Berg also noted there are several smaller additions that aren't sponsored, but are there to help fill out some of the areas between displays. This includes several giant, lighted candy canes lining the road up to the entrance hut of the show.

"Just kind of little general stuff here and there to make it look more full," he said.

While he hasn't heard of much public feedback on specific displays, Berg said they do hear that people think the displays look better in general with every passing year.

"In the early days the displays weren't as kind of professional as they are now," Berg said. "Now they're bigger and more professional looking. So the quality of the displays is better I think, and we hear that."

Berg said it can be tough to keep the show looking new and unique year after year. Fortunately, there are a lot of volunteers to spread the work around to. A formal committee structure with several sub committees ensures every part of the show is thought through before things start taking shape in the park.

Things different committees focus on include creating new display designs, building the displays, and setting up and taking down the displays. Spreading out the workload helps things get done while not overloading a single person or group, Berg said.

"It's kind of a constant challenge, but it's kind of a fun challenge, I guess," he said of keeping things new on an annual basis.

Berg is hoping the number of cars driving through the show will bounce back after a tough winter season lowered numbers last year.

"We had lots of nights that were really slow, but hopefully if the weather holds we'll have an average or above-average year," Berg said, noting an average year sees anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 cars.

While the many Sertoma members who help put on Christmas in the Park every year are an integral part of the process, Berg would be remiss if he didn't mention two other groups in particular who consistently provide help year after year.

Berg said the welding program at Burdick Job Corps Center has been a big help over the years. And this year the carpentry program built an addition to the storage garage in Oak Park, giving Sertoma a little more wiggle room to store all those displays over the summer months.

"Just a special thanks to the people over at the Job Corps there, and also the (Minot) Park District. The park district is real helpful, and they work with us coordinating things. They help us put up some of the really big displays that you need a bucket truck (for)," Berg said. "The Job Corps and the park district are partners in the project. It would be really tough to make it come off well without those two groups."