Nov 15 2007
SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
A drive along interstate 91 in southwest Massachusetts will take you by the town of Springfield, for most the year there isn’t much to catch your eye, however from the week prior to thanksgiving to the week after the New Year the town is transformed into one giant light show known as Bright Nights. It’s arguably the biggest drive through holiday light display in the whole of New England. Downtown Springfield is where the show begins, every business or building is light up, visitors drive slowly in a procession around town taking in the varied light display till they reach the towns park, in the park the sides of the road are adorned with thousands of metal frames covered in lights depicting the characters and mood of the season. The park is seven hundred and fifty acres and is covered in pine trees. The park was a gift to the city by Everett H. Barney, the man who invented modern ice skates. In 1995 ‘the spirit of Springfield’- a local group- decided to put up the light show to boost the moral of the town, which at the time was struggling economically. Each year the show has attracted over three hundred thousand visitor’s a third being from out of town.
