CHARLESTON, W.Va. — For the second year in a row, Charleston’s GoMart Ballpark will go from professional baseball park to winter wonderland to make way for the Salango Law Light the Night.
Last holiday season, Light the Night gave visitors a fun experience with over two million lights across the field and concourse, an ice-skating rink, a Ferris wheel, inflatables, vendors, and more.
In the 2023 holiday season, Light the Night brought in north of 120,000 people, including visitors from 42 states as well as Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Canada.
Charleston Dirty Birds owner and CEO Andy Shea says last year was a complete success across the board.
“To the level that it was received, the amount of pride that our staff, the community, and families took in it, it really was kind of awe inspiring,” Shea said.
Shea says despite last year being a home run, there will be some small additions to make way for potentially larger crowds.
“We’re adding about a half a million lights, we’re adding more kids’ activities, we’re adding more hours and days of operation, so really growing in multiple ways,” Shea said.
Another way Light the Night at GoMart Ballpark will build on its existing success is by expanding hours to the ice-skating rink in the outfield.
“The ice-skating rink, in particular, is one of the things that we will have a good amount more hours and days of operation for,” Shea said. “It was such a tremendous value and hit to so many people, whether it was people you could clearly see were pretty good ice skaters, and then people you could tell it was probably their first time out on ice.”
Shea also says the prime sponsor of the event, Salango Law, has been enthusiastically behind every step of the process.
“The amount that Ben Salango and Salango Law has done for us on top of being the title sponsor, it motivates me,” Shea said. “I think that I’ve been a better businessperson this year than I have previously seeing how Ben (Salango) was with Light the Night and how he really, really got behind it, along with being the title sponsor.”
Light the Night will open to the public at GoMart Ballpark on November 15. Tickets will go on sale August 15.