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Belvidere Park District features light display
By Kathryn Menue
Editor
BELVIDERE – Beginning on Friday, Dec. 4, in conjunction with Hometown Christmas, the Belvidere Park District once again organized the Holiday Light Display throughout the Belvidere Park for the community to enjoy.
The light display has become a community tradition that families look forward to viewing each year.
“We’ve been doing it for many years,” Belvidere Park District Recreation Supervisor Patrick Kloss said. Many years is right since 2015 marks the 24th year of the Holiday Light Display.
The light display features Christmas and seasonal holiday décor from local organizations throughout the Belvidere/Boone County community.
“Holiday Lights is an opportunity for businesses, clubs, and organizations to share their holiday greeting with the community in a unique and festive way,” Kloss wrote to the local businesses interested in joining the holiday fun. “Each year, the displays get more creative and the Park gets better looking!”
These organizations can contribute in a few different ways. Organizations can donate time and money to create displays, can donate funds for the upkeep of the current displays, and can donate money to help the park district purchase new displays.
Due to the organizations’ generous contributions, the Belvidere Park District recognizes their giving spirit through signage and 
advertisements in the displays and flyers.
Roughly 20 organizations joined the park district this year to present an arrangement that reflects the joy of the holiday season.
The park district and organizations usually spend weeks setting up all of the displays, but this year they had almost everything up by Thanksgiving due to the warmer and drier weather.
These organizations that provided support for the Holiday Light Display include:
Duraclean, Boone County Auto Body, Union Savings Bank, Koteles Org. (McDonalds), OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center, Rock River Valley Blood Center, First National Bank, Boone County Historical Society, Boone County Fair Association, First Baptist Church of Belvidere, Boone County Shopper, Shaw Craft Sign Co., Boone County Arts Council, BelRock Asphalt Paving Inc., Belvidere Women’s Club, Boone County Gardeners of America, Four Seasons Community, Belvidere Park 3rd Base/Pre School Programs, and Northland Association for Special Recreation.
With the dedication from these organizations, the park district is able to exhibit around 30 displays each year. The Park District examines the displays daily to fix any misfortunes that may happen to the displays overnight to ensure the displays are perfect for the community’s viewing.
Although there are no new displays this year, due to the addition of the Riverside Ice Arena, the donations have gone to purchase newer LED light displays in the past few years. Plus, the park district hopes to acquire more displays in upcoming years.
The community can enjoy the Holiday Lights Display once again, now through Jan. 1. The park has extended hours for the light display, so people can drive through from about 3:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. to enjoy the lighting event of the season.
