By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Somewhere within the Great Bend Public Lands Department there is a folder consisting of 200-plus pictures and instructions on how all the Christmas lights around town are supposed to be installed.
Public Lands Director Scott Keeler said his crews are starting to dive into that folder as the process to begin the light displays will start just before Halloween.
"We plug in everything and check them," said Keeler. "Those displays have tube lights, and the tube lights are rated for 10,000 hours. The majority of these were built in the early 2000s. It's an ongoing rotation or splicing in places that can be done. Sometimes we have to tear them down and rewire everything."
Keeler added crews will start with decorating light poles, then work on displays within the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo, make their way to Veterans Memorial Park and eventually finish downtown with the displays around the Barton County Courthouse.
There will be new displays this year, but if you want to know what they are you will have to come check out the lights this holiday season.
"No preview," said Keeler. "It's going to be a surprise. The guys are looking at making some more improvements. It'll be a few more things that are animated."
Installing all the light displays usually takes a few weeks and is done in time for the Home for the Holidays Festival Parade the Saturday after Thanksgiving.