Christmas Light display to return next year

PLAINS – The Christmas Light Display at the Sanders County Fairgrounds has been canceled for this year and the Plains Community Market banded together in an effort to help bring them back for next year.

Bobbi Kolby, media organizer for the market, said they were selling 50/50 raffle tickets to try to save up enough money to bring the lights back in the year 2014.

“It’s been 19 years and for our 20th year we’re not going to have them? We can’t do that. That’s where I’m coming from,” said Kolby.

Kolby said the light display brings people from all over to witness the transformation of the fairgrounds into a winter wonderland speckled with thousands of lights.

According to a few people she had talked to during the event held on Saturday, people from Missoula, Idaho, Mile City and even as far away from Canada come down yearly to take the loop through the lit up fairgrounds.

“One family comes down here every year and they have lived in Canada for ten years now,” said Kolby.

Fairboard Manager Mike Hashisaki said the decision has been made to cancel the lights this year but because of the efforts people are undertaking to bring the lights back, they will return for the year 2014.

“The decision (for this year) has been made. And part of it is governed by looking at the budget because the county lost 1.9 million when the Secure Rural Schools Act wasn’t renewed,” said Hashisaki, explaining all departments had to make a 10 percent budget cut, with the utility portion of the fair budget getting cut down significantly.

Hashisaki said the Fair Foundation is the one who pays for the all of the lights, however, taxpayers pay for the electricity bill totaling about $5,000 a year – about $1,500 a month.

The first ten years of the light display, E.L. Johnson and Sons paid the power bill, and for the last four years private donations have come in to help pay for it. However, complaints about taxpayer’s money have helped bring the display to a halt.

Kenny Jones, market organizer said it’s a shame that the negative complaints outweigh the positive efforts of those who want to keep the lights.

“There is a little bit of a negative political atmosphere generated here and unfortunately, I think those people tend to get more notice than the people trying to do the right thing…We are going to make a hard-line definition: This is donation, this is all voluntarism, because we want our Christmas lights,” said Jones.

Jones plans to have more events to help raise funds to bring the lights back, including a community picnic, which will take place on September 14 at the Sanders County Fairgrounds.

“We really need a lot more public support,” said Jones. “For the individuals that did show up we have had massive amounts of support and lots of tickets being sold.”

The 50/50 raffle will continue throughout fair time and the money will go to the Fairboard Foundation to help keep the lights going, something many people that attended the Plains Community Market were passionate about.

Jones and Kolby said that along with donations, they are also looking for volunteers to help put the Christmas lights up. Currently the two volunteers that put up the majority of the lights are around 70 years old.

“We don’t want them on a ladder anymore. We need some volunteers and I think we’ll have that,” said Kolby.

Along with the 50/50 raffle, corporate sponsor for the event, Eagle Satellite planned to contribute $25 for each sale made.

“They’re the guys who are making this possible,” said Jones.

Eagle Satellite employee T.J. Bryant stressed that community involvement is a major goal of theirs.

“All the donations right now for this particular event are going to the Fairboard Foundation for the Christmas lights,” said Eagle Satellite employee T.J. Bryant. “We’re just trying to help grow this event and grow the Community Market as well.”