Twinkle time!

Several of the grocery store’s managers volunteered to help with the final push before the annual holiday light show opens Friday. A parade kicks off the event starting around 6 p.m. at Sixth and Main Streets before heading through town toward the Walkway of Lights gate. The event runs 6-10 p.m. every night through Jan. 3. 

MARBLE FALLS — The holiday season officially gets started Friday when the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce flips the switch on one of the biggest annual attractions in Central Texas — the Walkway of Lights on the banks of the lower Colorado River.

Following the parade and the arrival of a “very special guest,” the chamber will flip the switch and set Lakeside Park aglow with more than a million Christmas lights making up 35 different scenes and more than 100 light sculptures.

“This is so exciting,” said Chamber Events Coordinator Kerri Roberts Wednesday as she and several dozen volunteers added fresh-cut trees to the display. “We’re making the final push to get everything ready for the opening Friday.”

Last year 40,000 people visited the display. This year, more are expected, officials said.

The first night isn’t just about turning the lights on. The 3rd Annual Christmas Spirit! Parade gets things rolling about 6 p.m. Friday at Sixth and Main streets in Marble Falls. 

“This has been an incredible year for the parade,” said Chamber Executive Assistant Gay Bergman. “We already have 63 entries for the parade. There are lots of kids groups involved. We had several units coming from outside Marble Falls. I’m so excited.”

By starting at 6 p.m., the parade will be a little dark to set off the lights but not so bad that people are stumbling around, officials said.

The parade will head south down Main Street before coming to the Yett Street intersection. At that point, the floats, vehicles and horse-drawn wagons will turn right and head down Yett, allowing foot traffic to proceed toward the main entrance of the Walkway of Lights at Lakeside Park, 307 Buena Vista Drive.

“We’re going to have a line of lit Christmas trees along the way to the main entrance,” Bergman said. “It’s going to be a beautiful walk down to the Walkway of Lights. This year we’re really trying to encourage people to walk down to the entrance.”

With so many displays and lights, getting the Walkway ready has been a month-long affair. 

Roberts said crews from the 33rd Judicial District Intermediate Sanction Facility began working on the holiday light display Oct. 20. Along with those crews, several dozen volunteers have lent a hand to ready Lakeside Park for the 44-night show.

Marble Falls H-E-B managerial staff showed up Wednesday with a load of fresh-cut Christmas trees. But they didn’t just drop them off and head back to the store. Unit Manager David Crail and his staff hauled the trees into the park and helped set them up.

“This is kind of a team-building exercise for us,” he said. “But we all volunteered to do this because it’s such a big part of the community. When they tell you 40,000 people visited (Walkway of Lights) last year, it’s a pretty important event for the city.”

Chamber officials said two- thirds of those visitors came from outside the Highland Lakes.

Chamber staff and volunteers have already begun fielding calls from people and organizations outside the area about the Walkway of Lights and Christmas Spirit! Parade.

“I had a call from a travel agent in Fort Worth who heard about the parade and the Walkway,” Bergman said. “They’re bringing in a group of 50 people to the parade and opening.”

Along with visiting the holiday display, the group is staying overnight in a local hotel, she said.

Though the annual display does draw people on a nightly basis, the Walkway can also serve as a way to encourage visitors to stop by local businesses, hotels and restaurants, chamber officials said.

Another query came from a group in Georgetown which will be visiting the Walkway in early December. The caller wanted to know what restaurants in Marble Falls could handle a group of 57 people, Bergman said.

“It’s great that people outside the area are finally discovering what we have here,” she said. “(The Walkway) brought in about 40,000 people last year, but I anticipate it will bring in more this year.”

Though the Walkway is a big draw for the area, one of the reasons Crail enjoys volunteering and then attending the light display is a bit simpler.

“For me, it’s a peaceful reminder of the season,” he said. “It’s about getting the family together and enjoying all the lights.”

The Walkway of Lights is open 6-10 p.m. Nov. 21-Jan. 3. For more information on the holiday display or the parade, call (830) 693-2815.

daniel@thepicayune.com

Photo by Daniel Clifton