Entertainment
Rotary Lights preparing for 25th Christmas in La Crosse
A popular holiday festival in La Crosse marks its 25th year in 2019.
The Rotary Lights display for this year in Riverside Park will start on November 29th, the day after Thanksgiving, and continue through New Year’s Eve.
The display of roughly 3 million Christmas lights is being assembled now in the park, which has been the site of bandshell construction and other projects for the past year.
Fourteen area food pantries receive donations of packaged food from visitors to Rotary Lights.
Organizer Pat Stephens expects the 25-year total of donated food items to hit the 4 million mark during the first few days of the 2019 festival.
Several area restaurants have volunteered to feed the workers who will staff the festival during 33 nights this year.
The 25th year Rotary display will include a large “animated tree” atop Grandad Bluff, helicopter rides over the park, and an anniversary banquet happening in late January.