Community starts preparation for Fantasy of Lights from MWSU Campus Watch on Vimeo.

It’s only October but some member of the campus community have already started their preparations for the holiday season.

Nearly 50 people came out to the annual Fantasy of Lights workday, held yearly, for volunteers to give time — and some elbow grease — toward the preparation of the holiday tradition.

Denver McClure, a sophomore and member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity, said cleaning and repainting the displays may not sound like much, but  it can go along way in making the tradition come to life.

“We do other volunteering at places like Habitat for Humanity, or the Humane Society, but Fantasy of lights is something that is really cool that Midwestern State puts on and brings a lot of people out, from not only or school but from families around the area,” McClure says.

The Burn’s Family ‘Fantasy of Lights’ has been a tradition at Midwestern State, formally, last 40 years. Randy Canivel, coordinator, said a legacy as strong as that does not come without a cost. This year, that price: $50,000.

“That doesn’t include any of the new things that we have done. (That’s) $50,000 just for security, electricity, getting everything setup. We spend about 1,100 man hours putting it up, once it hits Hardin,” said Canivel.

Though MSU owns the rights to the festival, Canivel said they could not use State funds to assist in running the display.  According to Canivel, the community has supported the event since back in the 1920s when the display started as a few lights in the yard of Lester Thomas Burns and his wife, Lillian. And Saturday’s workday was no different.

“We have students from Zundy Junior High, We have some of the elementary schools, MSU, we have some the fraternities and sororities here today,” Canivel says. “Our county judge, Woodey Gossom, he is apart of the advisory board and he comes out and helps every year. So we saw nice representation from all schools, from elementary all the way up to the college levels.”

Noticeably absent from the work day was retired professor Don Henschel, who created of most of the display scenes. Henschel retired last year. However, he will still be involved with Fantasy of Lights, as he has created two new displays.

“We have one here behind you that’s the ‘Nutcracker Carousel’ that is about 90 percent complete and we have one that is a surprise and that is being stored somewhere else for the time being. I can not give details about that yet at the request of the (Burns) Family, but people will definitely love it.

The display opens outside Hardin Building the first Friday in December and runs through Jan. 1.

READ a 2011 story about The Fantasy of Lights.