By ERIN PERKINS
Point Pleasant Register
POINT PLEASANT, W.Va. — An annual holiday tradition is going to be making its return for the season.
The West Virginia State Farm Museum’s Christmas light show will be open for display Dec. 8 – 17, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., each night.
The event is free to the public, although donations are appreciated at the entrance gate. Guests can visit Santa and Mrs. Claus in the Country Kitchen where free hot chocolate and cookies will be served. The Country Store will also be open where souvenirs, crafts, and candy can be purchased.
(Ohio Valley Publishing photo)
Each year the museum’s employees add a unique feature to the show to entice a visitor’s return for the following holiday season. On the first Friday of the event a live nativity scene will be on display. According to museum employee Deborah Young, the array of lights decorating the grounds attracts visitors from in and out of town who want to take a journey into the past.
“To me, what is most attractive is nothing on display is pre-made. The lights are on real objects,” Young said.
Those objects are tractors, farm equipment and replicas of a one-room school house, blacksmith shop and more.
Work on the light show begins at the start of October. Along with workers in community service, Lakin Correctional Facility allows their inmates to volunteer their time to put up the lights. Young shared the museum employees show their appreciation for the inmates’ hard work by making them a dinner and lighting up the grounds the night before the open of the show.
“Seeing the lights makes them feel good about the work they did,” said Young.
The donations given by the guests attending the event is the funding for the following year’s show. The museum accepts Christmas lights by donation throughout the year as well. Volunteers work the entrance gate and help in the Country Kitchen.
Erin Perkins is a staff writer for Ohio Valley Publishing.
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