Santa’s Playground lights up for Christmas
CLIFTON PARK (Dec. 8) — Vincent Laurenzo loves Christmas, and it shows.
Big time.
If you don’t believe it, just drive by his company, Quick Response Restoration, on Route 9. Or better yet, stop by and visit this weekend — and bring the kids. In addition to the mammoth lights display, there will be Santa Claus, live reindeer, bon fires, train rides, Clydesdale horse drawn wagons, a carousel and refreshments. And starting this year, there will also be a band.
The holiday lights display and open house at Quick Response on Route 9 will attract more than 3,000 people during the next couple of weekends.
“It is Quick Response’s way of saying thank you to a community that has been so supportive of it,” Laurenzo said. The event is open to the public 5:30-9:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 12, Sunday, Dec. 13 and Saturday, Dec. 19.
“He said there’s nothing in life that’s free anymore,” Quick Response in-house attorney Noelle Long said, “and he wants people to enjoy it without putting their hands in their pockets.”
Unless, of course, their hands are cold. But in that case, they can head to the event’s heated tent for coffee, hot chocolate and a chance to meet Santa.
The whole thing started simply in 2001. Quick Response put up some residential-grade decorations and invited people to visit the display, meet with Santa, see live reindeer and have some refreshments.
The event drew such a positive response that next year it was upgraded with commercial grade displays. Costumes were also purchased, so kids could get their photos taken with Winnie the Pooh, Scooby Doo, Tigger, the Cat In The Hat and others.
Little by little, more items were added to the celebration. Newer, larger displays; Clydesdale horse-drawn wagons; 4 50-foot pine trees. When the Catskill Game Farm closed in 2006, Quick Response purchased its carousel and 5-car train. A custom candy factory — 30-feet tall and 300-feet long — highlights the display.
“It’s the biggest single light display in the country that’s in one piece,” said Long, who added the second biggest is 200-foot display in Hershey, Pa.
The event has grown so big that it now requires satellite parking lots and 12 shuttle buses. Attendees can park either in the Corpus Christi Catholic Church (at the corner of Ushers Road and Route 9) or a Wood Road parking lot.
“We had 3,000 people attend last year,” Long said.
On the days when the display isn’t open to the public, the company runs private tours by appointment for seniors groups and people with special needs. The company still has openings for those tours.
“One-thousand autistic and foster children came this past weekend,” Long said.
Long is in charge of obtaining the permits needed to hold an event of this size — requiring assistance from the Department of Transportation, the town of Clifton Park and the state police.
“It can be a circus,” she said, “but we’ve tried to make it as organized as possible.”
For more information:
- Quick Response Restoration, 2077 Route 9, Clifton Park, 899.7090
