Christmas lights add festive feeling to Lake Anna

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Favorite displays from previous years return this year and will be lit up at Lake Anna Park 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Nov. 30 through Jan. 4.

By CHRISTINA McCUNE
BGNN managing editor
BARBERTON  Lake Anna doesn’t need to dress up. She’s already beautiful as she is. But she must feel the love as she reflects an extra glow each year thanks to Barberton Parks and Recreation workers carefully decorating the park around her like a skirt around the base of a Christmas tree.

Admirers and users of the park, and motorists just passing by are in for a treat again this holiday season as the city is lighting up dozens of displays and winter and holiday themed scenes beginning this Saturday.

Tammy Simmons, assistant director of Barberton Parks and Recreation department, said the city has lit the park with displays for at least a couple dozen years. Most of the displays have withstood the test of time and favorite scenes return each year. Every few years some new scenes are added. The department has a budget from the city and also accepts donations.

This year, donations went toward a new tree in the gazebo.

The Magic City Kiwanis Club members will decorate the Lake Anna tree and gazebo and will have the annual tree lighting ceremony at 6 p.m. Nov. 30. The group constructed the gazebo in 1982 and has maintained it over the years.

The tree lighting and lighting of the park falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and coincides with the Barberton Christmas Walk, which volunteers from a separate nonprofit organization put on in and around downtown. The Barberton Christmas Walk includes dozens of businesses and vendors, churches, the library and other groups participating with activities and fun for everyone in the family and concluding with the Christmas Pub Crawl.

Over the years, the lighting displays at Lake Anna Park have received upgrades such as trading in all the lights for LED bulbs so there’s less drain on the system. Also, a timing system has been implemented so they no longer need to be turned on and off manually. The lights turn on at 6 p.m. and are off at 8 a.m.
Once the mums have been taken out of the park following the Mum Festival, thoughts turn to the holiday displays. Parks and rec workers begin putting up the lights at the end of October and finish up around the beginning of November.

“It is a big deal to put these things up,” Simmons said. “It’s not easy.”

People can look for their favorite displays including some animated ones lit up with multi-colored bulbs such as a little girl with a bonnet watering flowers in the mum gardens, a horse-drawn carriage, snow globe, large Nativity scene by the visitor’s center, swans near the water’s edge by the boat ramp, sledders and skiers, carolers walking along the edge of the walk, Santa Claus and a fireplace scene, elves shooting snowballs out of a cannon, and lit arches welcoming people to the gazebo. Two toy soldiers stand guard by the gazebo, other toys are on display around the lake, and a blue heron and dragonfly seem to be relaxing in the gardens. An American flag is lit up at the military honor roll. Two displays are in front of the city building.

Simmons said some houses and buildings around Lake Anna keep the trend going and tend to decorate beautifully as well.

Here’s a little fun fact and something people can look for: did you know that deer scrape their antlers on trees as they get older to remove the soft velvet that covers them? One of the parks and rec workers often cleverly places a buck near a tree so it appears he is getting ready to scape his antlers on the rough bark.

For the first time, Barberton Parks and Recreation is offering a Winter Fun Walk Saturday, Jan. 4. Pre-registration is required and closes 14 days before the event. Check in is at the gazebo at 4 p.m. and the walk begins at 5 p.m. This will be the last chance for people to enjoy the lights before they’re packed away for next year. Anyone is welcome to bundle up and walk around the park and enjoy the lights and scenes. Registration is required to be part of the Winter Walk so organizers can purchase enough hot chocolate for everyone. While registration is required, the walk is free. Participants have the option of purchasing luminaries for $4 each to help light the way. Call 330-861-7135 to register.

“It is one of the bigger displays that are free that people don’t have to pay anything to see,” Simmons said. “The lake is a little less than three-quarters-of-a-mile long. If you get to drive around the entire lake you see the reflection off the water. Some nights it’s just really a neat thing to see them. Even if it snows a little bit. It’s still an experience I think people enjoy and like to do.”

Simmons said she is thankful to those who donate every year and they seem to enjoy contributing to the beautiful displays. She makes sure they all receive thank-you cards.

“I have a core group of people who donate every year,” Simmons said.

To make donations to the lighting display, call 330-861-7118 to make a credit card donation via phone, or mail a check to Barberton Parks and Recreation, 500 W Hopocan Ave., Barberton, OH 44203.

For more information about programs through the Barberton Parks and Recreation Department, visit www.barbertonparksandrec.com.