Merry and very bright: Wheaton to light up downtown park with 57,500 bulbs
Believe it or not, the holidays are right around the corner, and downtown Wheaton will be getting in the spirit with high-voltage Yuletide cheer.
The city's Adams Park will be lit up with 57,500 bulbs, once again making the downtown a festive destination "where the treetops glisten."
Two years ago, the city and a downtown business group sparked a new tradition by creating the "Nights of Lights" display just off Main Street. While an annual parade was canceled, the historic park was still aglow, a much-needed source of warmth even during the darkest days of the pandemic.
"The response was amazing," said Allison Orr, the executive director of the Downtown Wheaton Association. "That is really the reason that the 'Nights of Lights' is still going so strong. The city definitely picked up on the fact that people really enjoyed it, and it brought the community together."
This year, the holiday spectacle will return the Friday after Thanksgiving, but with thousands more bulbs and new features.
An animated, dancing ice skater will sparkle in the center of the park's crown jewel - an original fountain that once graced the front yard of a Queen Anne-style mansion owned by John Quincy Adams, a grain merchant and distant relative of the president of the same name.
When his daughter, Katherine Adams Wells, died in 1942, she bequeathed the site of her childhood home to the city of Wheaton for a public park.
The mansion was torn down, but the fountain remains and will be a brightly lit centerpiece of "Nights of Lights."
A new vendor, Holiday Outdoor Decor, will install two other skating figures around the fountain. And a custom poinsettia archway will mark the entrance to Adams Park at Main and Wesley streets.
"It will really provide a warm, welcoming holiday feel as soon as people enter the park," Orr said.
Park trees will be lit up with strands of LED bulbs in warm white, red, green and blue. Cascading lights will look like falling snow. Colorful spheres also will adorn some trees.
"My goal was really to add to the design as much as possible and give us a little bit more height to the lights than we've had in the past," Orr said.
The city council has agreed to set aside $35,448 for each of the next three holiday seasons to pay for the display in Adams Park, ensuring "Nights of Lights" will continue through at least 2024. The project will be contracted for and managed by the Downtown Wheaton Association.
The holiday season officially starts with a park lighting event before the city's annual Christmas parade steps off downtown at 6 p.m. Nov. 25. Then, the city will flip the switch on a 22-foot tree and a 4-foot star topper in front of a new pavilion near Main Street and Liberty Drive.
Other holiday events will encourage people to shop locally instead of online or in big box stores. The Downtown Wheaton Association will spotlight a different business "offering something really cool and special and unique" during a "25 Days of Christmas" countdown, Orr said.
"We'll have Santa and Mrs. Claus downtown Wheaton every Saturday," Orr said.
Adams Park will be lit from dusk to 11 p.m. through Jan. 9.