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BY SARAH HERNANDEZ
The Trail of Lights began as a small gathering called Yule Fest in Zilker Park.
Piecing it together According to the Trail of Lights Foundation, the event utilizes: • over two million lights • 90 lighted holiday trees • 65+ holiday displays • 30 food trucks • 1000+ event volunteers • two entertainment stages and more interactive attractions throughout the park The foundation also estimates that: • organizers spend almost 20,000 hours year- round planning, organizing, building and taking down the event. • 400,000 people attend the 14-night event per year.
‘Santasaurus’ is one of the oldest displays on the Trail of Lights.
PHOTOS COURTESY TRAIL OF LIGHTS FOUNDATION
Trail of Lights returning for 60th year of memories The Trail of Lights turns 60 this year and orga- nizers are already preparing the holiday magic. How it started The event began as a small gathering in 1965
They started rebuilding the event by hiring city retirees who knew how to put everything together. ‘Santasaurus,’ for example—a Santa hat-wearing brontosaurus part of the trail since the start—has to be taken apart and pieced back together under the same tree each year. The foundation spends 12 months fundraising and planning. Lights are hung starting in early November and by mid-January they are taken down. The details As the 60th Trail of Lights approaches, Russell said his team is grateful for the time they spend as part of it. This year’s event will run from Dec. 10-23.
known as Yule Fest in Zilker Park. The celebration involved lighting a yule log until 2009 when the program was cut from the city’s budget. After a scaled-back event that year and a two-year hiatus, the Trail of Lights Foundation banded to revive it in 2012. “Being from Austin, growing up going to the Trail of Lights, and then not having [it]—it felt like part of our culture was missing,” said James Russell, Executive Director of the Trail of Lights Foundation.
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ZILKER PARK
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2100 Barton Springs Road, Austin www.austintrailo ights.org
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