Feb 23, 2021

More vehicles and donations for the 2020 Trail of Lights

Posted Feb 23, 2021 1:00 PM

By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post

Maybe it was because this year’s Christmas lights in Great Bend were so bright and cheerful or maybe it was because thousands of citizens were searching for social distancing events. Whatever the reason, the city recorded over 500 more visitors that cruised through their Trail of Lights this year compared to last year.

With greeters out the Saturday after Thanksgiving through Dec. 22, Great Bend logged 2,440 vehicles that went through the Brit Spaugh Park portion of the Trail of Lights.

Community Coordinator Christina Hayes says the Public Works Department purchased a traffic counter that citizens can drive over to better calculate the number of vehicles that drive through an area.

"We collected 4,125 different cars that came through in the timeframe of 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.," said Hayes. "This is a cool tool. We are going to use it for the 4th of July fireworks display. It will be a great tool in the future to use for events."

The batteries for the traffic counter died, with roughly a week’s stretch in December not accounted for in the total.

While the greeters were working from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the holiday season, Great Bend received $4,900 in donations to be used to repair and purchase new lights. The amount raised in 2020, was $1,331 higher than what was collected the previous year.

"We ask for donations, but do not require them," said Hayes. "It helps replenish the lights fund for upkeep. We raised a lot more money this year. It shows how great those greeters are in giving a warm welcome for our Trail of Lights."

The 2020 Trail of Lights data showed Pawnee, Stafford and Rice county tags were the highest recorded, outside of Barton, to drive through the display.