Tourism Blog

Making it happen – Fall 2007

By 2007, support for the project had swelled to the point that the dream was now becoming a reality. The final push was on to tie up all the loose ends and kick off this event by Thanksgiving weekend.

Mau, Augustinack, Rubin and countless others worked round the clock many days working to meet the opening day deadline. They ordered more than 40 light displays and organized the layout within the Arboretum. Others worked to bring children’s art, through a lighting contest, to life. Six children’s sketches were developed into light displays. It’s a tradition that continues today.

“We spent many hours out here,” Augustinack said of their home away from home – the Arboretum in the Fall 2007.

Augustinack remembers they weren’t alone.

“The power of volunteerism is just amazing,” Augustinack said. “And it takes that. We had some quality, quality resources. People stepped up. … It was an amazing fall.”

“We didn’t know what we didn’t know,” Mau said of that fluid first year with many decisions having to be made on the spot. “Literally, each day was bringing new opportunities – to spin it like Gus,” Mau said with a chuckle.

Just checking the bulbs alone – thousands of thousands of them – to see that all were in working order was a monumental task.

The countless hours of work resulted in an amazing holiday lighting display that went beyond the imaginations of those who had worked so many years to bring the idea to life.