Bright Lights, Festive Atmosphere

Yes Kaleigh Koster, there is a Santa Claus… and elves, and Christmas trees and reindeer, and… yes, Kaleigh, this is a bigger and better… and brighter Christmas light display in Lafreniere Park than last year’s.

As her grandparents’ car inched its way off Veterans and along Downs Boulevard (temporarily renamed Al Copeland Boulevard for the display) toward Lafreniere Park, the four-year-old Kenner girl peered out at all of the flashing, blinking, glowing Christmas lights that once graced the late fried chicken king’s Metairie home and now entertain Christmas season visitors to Lafreniere Park. 

“Is that it?” Kaleigh asked.

“No, honey, there’s more,” said her grandmother. “We’ll park the car and walk over the bridge to see the rest of the display.”

One holiday season later, Lafreniere will come to life with a spectacular “flipping of the switch” ceremony at dusk on Friday, December 3. The display will run through January 8. 

“There’ll be dignitaries and music at the ceremony, along with members of the Copeland family. We all owe them so much,” says Barry McGuinness, manager of Lafreniere Park. “The Copelands were so generous in donating the lights and decorations that were part of their father’s home and were such a holiday landmark for so many years.”

McGuinness promises a lot more “improvements” for the 2010-11 holiday lighting festival. “First, the entrance will no longer be off Veterans. It will be on the other side of the park off West Napoleon Avenue. This will bring cars into the park and around, eliminating the traffic headaches we had last year,” he says. Along the way, we’ll have people handing out stuffed animals to children in the cars.”

He explains that the weekends will showcase students and choral groups singing Christmas carols along with concession stands selling hot chocolate, sodas, nachos, hot dogs and the like. The new carousel will also be open, along with a number of expanded and new exhibits. 

Another change this year, according to McGuinness, is with the lighting itself. “We’ve re-lamped most of the bulbs with low energy lighting. That means less kilowatts, less expense and much brighter displays,” he says. 

Once again, Downs Boulevard will be renamed “Al Copeland Boulevard” for the duration of the exhibit. 

McGuinness describes the exhibit as more than a “drive through experience.” “It has become a real family event. And we’re getting calls every day asking about it. It’s really going to be something special this year,” he says. 

For the first time, McGuinness says, donations will be taken at the Al Copeland Boulevard exit. “It’s only to help defray the cost of the electrical bill,” the park manager says. “No special amount. Just anything the driver wishes to donate.”

The exhibit will be open from first darkness to 10 pm, Monday–Thursday, first darkness to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and first darkness to 9:30 pm
on Sundays.

And what about Kaleigh Koster? McGuinness is betting that this year, she’ll be asking her grandparents, “Can we walk through again?”