Powering up

James Island park to kick off tradition with Nov. 13 run

Preparations for the annual Holiday Festival of Lights begin while summer is still in full swing. In December, the line of cars to see the show occasionally has backed up from the James Island County Park entrance all the way to the Stono River bridge.

Dozens of switches are flipped each evening to power up 2 million light bulbs that illuminate themed and sometimes animated displays spread over a three-mile driving loop. Ants and bees sometimes take winter refuge inside the 132 electrical boxes that connect miles of power lines needed to keep the lights on.

It takes about 40 minutes to get all the lights on, and just as long to turn them off again. Couples have become engaged while bathed in the lights' soft glow.

After 18 years of growth and increased attendance, it's safe to say the light show has, as was hoped, become a Lowcountry tradition, said David Chappell, maintenance director for James Island County Park.

Chappell has been with the light show since its beginning. This 19th edition will begin with a Fun Run on the night of Nov. 13. The next evening, the show will open to motorists. It will close Jan. 4. Admission is $10 per car.

Chappell said the show put together in 1990 brought 20,000 vehicles and 85,000 people. Last year's show attracted 50,000 vehicles with some 200,000 visitors. This year's show promises to be bigger and better than ever, with more than 650 displays. "It's hard to believe we had 18 displays when it started," he said.

Concluding that the then-new James Island park needed something to bring in crowds during the slow winter months, Chappell and the park's then-executive director, Tim Eubanks, in the late 1980s visited a holiday light show at Oglebay Park in Wheeling, W.Va. The James Island park acquired 18 displays from the same manufacturer who made them for the West Virginia show.

The local show still has those 18 displays, but all the rest that you will see were created on-site. Most of the displays are stored in the off-season in about 28 trailers. A few displays, including a large image of the old and new Cooper River bridges, remain in place, though not lighted, all year.

Around Labor Day this year, the trailers were opened and displays began taking their places. "It takes a good 45 days to get the show up, weather permitting," Chappell said. He said this year, preparations dodged a few bullets when tropical storms skirted the area. "Hanna scared us a little bit. We made sure everything was staked down," he said.

"We have a great staff," Chappell said. "We have three full time that work on the show, and those three put up every single display." He added that all of the park's employees and volunteers contribute to the show, and some of them help replace every nonclear bulb, every year. The colorful bulbs lose their brilliance over time, he explained.

While clinging to its older exhibits, the park creates new ones each year. Chappell said display designer Rich Raab, "a jack-of-all-trades," once again has come up with some dazzling new ideas. Chappell would not disclose what new sights are in store, preferring instead to preserve the element of surprise. "We kind of keep that quiet. I don't even tell my own staff," he explained. But, he insisted, "It's going to be a good show this year."

Raab said he enjoys seeing a planned new display take shape and take its place in the show, but enjoys mostly seeing people's reactions to them. He said his most challenging display was the Cooper River bridges. The complex animation and the sheer size of it required two months of work, he said.

Chappell said the park is always experimenting with new technologies, including fiber optics and energy-saving bulbs. But start-up costs for new technologies "haven't come down enough to make it beneficial to us."

Letters arrive each year from people who share their light-show memories, Chappell said. Sometimes people send suggestions for new displays, "and some we actually used."

He said writers have expressed joys they experienced seeing the show with grandkids or grandparents. "It's a nice feeling when people write and say they are still coming back," he said.

For more information, call 795-4386.

Reach Edward C. Fennell at 937-5560.