Festival of Lights switches to LEDs

November 7, 2008

Imagine having a light bill that runs $50K a month. You’d certainly do something to save on your energy bill.

That’s what Oglebay Park in Wheeling is trying to do for its annual Festival of Lights. The park will be switching its bright incandescent light strings with LED’s, light emitting diodes.

The Festival of Lights features displays over the park’s 300 acres that range from roaring dinosaurs, to the 12 days of Christmas, to animated golfers practicing chip shots on a golf course. A million lights sparkle in the dark from November to early January.



LED’s are the newest craze in electronics. They light up your digital alarm clock and a jumbo TV screen. They have no filaments to burn out. And while experts say LED’s are as bright or brighter than the old fashioned kind they do lack a kind of twinkle.



Vocational students at Wheeling Park High School design and make new displays every year. This year’s winner is called Mountaineer Christmas has a buckskin clad man swinging an ax and a LED Christmas tree falls down.



The switch was turned on Oglebay Park’s Festival of Lights Wednesday night. It remains on until January 4th.

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