The Holiday Lights Show (HLS) is off to a great start with attendance numbers of 650 on Friday night (opening night) and a record attendance of 1600 last night (Saturday, December 17th). We had about 1" of snow over night Friday and the white stuff always makes the show look better and brings more people in to the show. Larry and Bill took care of all the snow removal. Larry turned everything on last night and stayed until 10 pm as there was the "adult portion" of the show from 8 pm until 10 pm that also involved a band, bar, etc. inside. I, along with some of my family (see below), was at the show last night and it was interesting to see all the cars parking along Palmer Drive and even at the east end of the gardens. I've never seen it packed so much and while the crowd was substantial, the lights show looked great and I heard nothing but positive comments as I circulated thru the crowd. There were lots of H.S. instrumental performances too as part of the entertainment and that always brings a good crowd too. With our Taste of Chocolate attendance, some early bus tours and rentals, our attendance might be around 2,600 total thus far. With NBC15 (Madison) broadcasting the weather (David George) from the gardens this past Friday night during the show, I'm sure that will bring in plenty of people as well. David really did a nice job promoting the show. Our marketing has gone far and wide and I talked to some people from Milwaukee last night that heard something on WI Public Radio about the show. Cool. The combination of lights, trains, entertainment, quilt display, refreshments, gift shop items, etc. make this the perfect holiday outing. I'm working the show tonight and tomorrow night and I hope we keep seeing strong numbers as this event, as nice as it is for the community and all attendees, is a vital fundraiser that needs to support RBG thru the "leaner months."
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