Beech Bend plans bright Christmas
By ROBYN L. MINOR, The Daily News, rminor@bgdailynews.com/783-3249
Beech Bend Park owner Dallas Jones is hoping to provide a little holiday cheer for southcentral Kentucky with the Christmas Lights Spectacular he has planned for the amusement park.
Jones said the event is expected to kick off Thanksgiving night and will run until Jan. 5.
That opening date isn't, however, set in stone. And plans to be open Christmas Day and New Year's will be dependent on being able to find help, Jones said, laughing about ?reserving the right? to change those dates.
Jones said putting on the spectacular was something the family decided it wanted to do.
?We visited four parks in Pennsylvania and they all had light displays,? Jones said. ?We decided to try it and see how it works. I'm really hoping that this is something we will continue. I think it's going to be exciting.?
A professional lighting company that has done such spectacles in Hershey Park, Penn., and Branson, Mo., will install the 109 displays that will include 480 lighted pieces. Lights will also adorn many of the trees and bushes on 368-acre park property.
Lights won't be the only feature of the park over the holidays. Visitors will drive their own vehicles, listening to information and Christmas music on an FM radio station, through much of the display to a parking lot and then hop on the Polar Express train that will take them to Santa's Village, where there will be a 40-feet by 80-feet outdoor skating rink and a large inflatable outdoor movie screen that will feature Christmas movies.
Jones said the park, which will open at dusk, will offer 12, 22-minute movies suitable for the whole family. The miniature golf course will be open, as will the Kentucky Rumbler roller coaster and a few other rides.
Admission will be $15 a carload, $25 for a commercial van and $100 for a bus. That fee includes movies, golf and Santa's petting farm. Skating will be an additional $7 for adults and $5 for children. Those who don't have their own skates can rent them for $3. Costs of the rides haven't been determined.
Jones said the marketing people for the promotion company should begin work in the next few weeks and installation of the lights will begin sometime after the park closes for the normal ride season on Sept. 30.
Vicki Fitch, executive director of the Bowling Green Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she's excited about what the extended park season will mean for the area's tourism. Beech Bend already is one of the largest draws for the region.
?We are planning to work with our lodging properties to create and promote holiday packages,? she said.
It's not clear yet if the annual Houchens Winter Lights display will go on this year at Basil Griffin Park. That was organized by the now-defunct Prime Time Events and sponsored by Houchens. Houchens indicated it would still sponsor the event and the Warren County Parks Department said it could put the lights up, Fitch said.
Whether that will happen is dependent on the completion of a sewer line expansion project, according to parks Director Phil Moore.
?That work is going on where the lights are displayed,? Moore said. ?So that has to be finished.?
Moore said it appears the work is somewhat behind schedule, so it's not known if the project will be done in time.
?We will have to make that decision later,? he said.