| Light Up Middletown Welcomed 54,550 Visitors In Eleventh Year |
| Monday, January 4, 2010 7:57:50 AM - Middletown Ohio |
Light Up Middletown
Florella Randall, Chairperson
4931 Riverview Avenue
Middletown, OH 45042-4012
Phone: 513-423-1877
Committee members:
Larry Biltz, Vice Chairman George Brecht, Treasurer
Ann Mort, Secretary/Communications Barney Strassburger, Site Manager
Frankie Carlson, Costumed Characters Perry Thatcher, Business Advisor
John Ridge, Business Advisor
NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release
Contact: Ann Mort, 513-649-4506, RMort@cinci.rr.com
January 3, 2010
LIGHT UP MIDDLETOWN WELCOMED 54,550 VISITORS IN 11TH YEAR OF OPERATION
The 35 days between Thanksgiving and News Year’s Eve were busy times at Smith Park in downtown Middletown. Light Up Middletown welcomed 54,500 people in 16,106 vehicles (including 70 buses) who drove through the light display. While no records were broken, attendance in 2009 was 17% above 2008 attendance.
According to chairperson Florella Randall, “During our 11 years, we have entertained many families, retirement home residents, sports teams and bus tours with the light display. We closed this year with a total of 499,759 people having toured the Light Up display, which means that on opening night in 2010 we will welcome our half millionth guest through the tunnel of lights.”
“We find that many people make it a tradition to visit Light Up Middletown every year.” Guests come from Butler and Warren County – a total of 85%. Montgomery County is the third highest with almost 8% of the guests. Another 5% come from all other Ohio counties and 2% from other states.
Light Up Middleteown is unusual in that admission is by donation. Most other light displays charge a fixed admission – often $12 to $20 per vehicle. Allowing guests to set their own admission charge results in an average of $.65 per person or $2.20 per vehicle. The donations are used to purchase more light displays, repair and replace present displays and make improvements to Smith Park.
Light Up Middletown was designed to be an attraction to draw people to downtown Middletow. According to volunteers staffing the entrance, the economic impact on local fast food restaurants should be noticeable. Many cars enter the park with sandwiches and drinks from the nearby restaurants.
Several other non-profit groups also earn money for their treasuries by staffing the entrance gate each night from 6-10 pm.
The annual holiday balloon glow is a major event within the Light Up event for one night each year. Beginning January 4, the Grandpa Gang (a group of volunteers who set up, tear down, repair and store the lights) will begin dismantling the displays until late October, 2010.
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