Holiday Lights On for This Year, Will Begin November 25th

Helping Services of Northeast Iowa's annual Holiday Lights event won't begin until November 25th, but preparations are already underway.

Although many events this year have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Helping Services Director of Community Engagement Ben Krous-Gagne is glad that Holiday Lights is not among them. This year's event will continue, even adding two days from previous years.

The opening evening will not feature a walk-through, as in previous years, and attendees will notice some additional health precautions, such as volunteers wearing masks, but otherwise the event will run as normal.

The number of volunteers for the event is even up slightly from previous years, according to Krous-Gagne. Volunteers were out Friday helping to put up this year's displays. For Chris Hoffert and the team from Hall Roberts and Sons of Postville, this is their seventh or eighth year assisting in set up. Hoffert, who is also a board member of Helping Services, describes the event as "a lot of fun."

The public will get to see the results of their work starting on November 25th. The Holiday Lights display will run through December 27th. The display is open nightly from 5-9pm.