Oak Mountain Festival of Lights will light up two weeks from today
Henry Barber attaches lights to toy soldier displays that will be used at the Oak Mountain Festival of Lights. (Michael Tomberlin/Alabama NewsCenter)
Above: Henry Barber attaches lights to toy soldier displays that will be used at the Oak Mountain Festival of Lights. (Michael Tomberlin/Alabama NewsCenter)
Lots of work goes into preparing for Oak Mountain Festival of Lights from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
The electrifying world of bulb and bling of the holiday sort that is the Oak Mountain Festival of Lights may not start until two weeks from today, but the work for this year’s event began months ago.
Like Santa and his elves at the North Pole, festival crews have been hard at work in a nondescript warehouse in the Oxmoor Valley bending metal pipes, welding frames and attaching more than 1 million lights to different assemblies.
Sometimes it just takes attention to detail and a handful of zip ties. Other times it takes ingenuity like converting an electric garage door opener to spin a pipe, making it easier to roll on strings of lights.
“It started in July in the warehouse here building props, different lights, a castle we’re building and mounting lights on poles,” said Johnny Ruffino, partner and special projects manager with Red Mountain Entertainment.
At one end of the warehouse, sparks flew from welding and pipes clanged as they were bent and moved. At the other end the tedious work of attaching lights to the frames was taking place on larger pieces.
In another room, snowflake mounts hung as workers attached lights to all of the right places while in a separate room similar work was taking place with other holiday shapes.
A semitruck-trailer was backed into the loading dock and packed with finished designs.
A giant Christmas stocking, multiple candy canes, towering toy soldiers and a colossal snowman offered a hint of what can be expected at this year’s event.
Red Mountain Entertainment and Live Nation will hold the annual event at Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham Nov. 23-Jan. 3. Visitors can drive their cars through the mile-long trail and watch holiday light animation synched to music on a designated channel on their radios.
The Festival of Lights will start at dark nightly (about 5 p.m.) and close between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on weeknights and between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on weekends.
At the end of the drive, complimentary milk and cookies can be enjoyed in the Holiday Village, courtesy of Bud’s Best Cookies and Barber’s Dairy.
Other sponsors include Alabama Power, Legacy Credit Union, Piggly Wiggly, Buffalo Rock, The Outlet Shops of Grand River and Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits.
Tickets can be purchased at Oak Mountain Festival of Lights box office for $25 per car (with additional charges for passenger vans and buses) or advanced tickets can be purchased at Piggly Wiggly stores for $20.
Get more information at the Oak Mountain Festival of Lights website.
