LYNCHBURG, Va. – Lynchburg is canceling one of its most popular holiday attractions this year.
City officials will not host the Celebration of Lights, a drive thru light show, at Riverside Park next month.
City leaders told 10 News that, because of the rain and snow last year, the breaker boxes would shut off the lights.
Crews, who were not on call, had to stay on-site to make sure the lights worked.
Over the years, the attraction has brought in over 10,000 cars.
City leaders said they don’t have the money and didn’t have enough sponsors to pull the event off.
“If it rains again or snows again, we haven’t budgeted for staff to be on staff to be on-site 24/7 to fix all the breaker boxes and extension cord issues. We need to do this right, and we need to do it right with conduit,” said Jennifer Jones, the director of the Lynchburg Parks and Recreation Department.
Jones said that, if they were to continue Celebration of Lights, they would have to consider three things: requesting funds in the operating budget to the City Council, having various businesses come forward to sponsor the event and funding and installing the conduit.
City officials said they are planning a tacky lights tour and other events.
At the Lynchburg Community Market on Dec. 7 and Dec. 14, families can enjoy carriage rides from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
On Dec. 18 and Dec. 19, people can ride around in the Green Machine tour bus, singing festive holiday music while viewing Lynchburg’s finest lit houses.
You can sign up for available time slots at www.lynchburgparksandrec.com/programs-and-activities/lynchburg-tacky-lights-tour.