People that know me, know that I am not much of a festive person when it comes to Christmas. My ideal Christmas is being with friends and family, not the Hallmark-ivied thing that it is now.
I think it is hilarious that I had a lot to do with Madison’s new Christmas event called Wonderland in the Park and now Light Up Madison. Tami just laughs at me when I am running miles of lights or setting up sculptures.
Tami, I and some of the other winery staff worked for close to 400 hours each to put on the light spectaclar this past year. (THAT IS 24,000 MINUTES or for another statistic - over 16 straight hours or 10 full work weeks... either way it was alot of time by alot of people, but it all paid off.) With the additional help of Tawana, Trev and the Department of Correction ladies and others, we were able to set up and be part of an event that drew in a crowd of nearly 8,000 people, and through donations from guests, we are able to expand the event to Vaughn Drive - with structures ranging from 5 foot to 12 foot. You can see how this is hilarious.
That being said, when our team was going through all of the comments and reading some of the stories from the families I saw how many lives were affected in a positive way by our event. So much of the Holiday is commercialized, and therefore expensive, and to be able to have an event like this for our community made the hundreds of hours of work, worth it. Come on down to Bicentennial Park to see what we have added, and if you see me covered in glitter, spray paint, tangled in lights or struggling with hula hoops to get them to look like large Christmas tree ornaments - just remember I'm a man that is doing it for the community and the spirit of the holidays so share a smile, visit the Wonderland in the Park event with your friends & family or just enjoy your visit to Lanthier Winery and know we love our community and only want the continue to make it a great place to experience! Visit the VisitMadison website for details.