CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Families visiting the Capital City have one more weekend to see the millions of lights on display at Go-Mart ballpark before the start of the new year.
The inaugural “Light the Night” event hosted by the Charleston Dirty Birds comes to a close on New Years Day on Monday.
Dirty Birds Owner and CEO Andy Shea said it was a successful event that took visitors on a choreographed light and music show experience with holiday shopping, food vendors and even Santa Claus himself.
“These next few days could be gigantic, really. I think we’ll be in the 120,000-125,000 people range for this six-week event,” Shea said on Friday’s “580 Live” with Dave Allen heard on MetroNews flagship station 580-WCHS in Charleston.
The event kicked off Nov. 17 and since then Shea said they’ve welcomed visitors from all over including across West Virginia and from 40 states.
Shea said they’ve received so much positive feedback from people who have brought their kids back to check out the lights more than once. The most popular attraction has been the ice-skating rink that Shea said would not be possible without their new turf field.
“That has been outrageously popular. People have loved it. They’ve come back. They’ve rented it out in the afternoons,” he said. “There’s almost a zero percent chance you’d be able to do half of that if we did not have an artificial turf. That could really tear the living heck out of the field on some of these nights or days after.”
Other popular attractions include the Salango Law Ferris Wheel.
“They come back, and they notice new things on the field,” Shea said about the feedback they’ve received over the last several weeks. “It’s just so stimulating and overwhelming that people probably miss things.”
The event will last until around 9 p.m. on Friday and until about 10 p.m. this weekend.
The cost is between $8 to $12 per ticket. Visit the Light the Night event online for more information and to purchase tickets.