Take a drive to Middletown for a fun, safe evening out
Going Places on a Gallon
Don’t be deterred by the long line of cars if you head to the Orange County Fairground’s Holiday Light Spectacular. On the first Saturday night of December, there was a long line waiting to enter. But, a good event staff kept things moving, divided cars into two lanes, and kept those in the cars abreast of what was going on.
This is the first year of the stay-in-your-car event. Similar drive-through displays of cheerful holiday displays have popped up all over this year as people are looking for safe ways to get out of their houses and take in the sights and sounds of the holidays.
The price to attend is $25 per car if bought online for any given night, or $30 if you purchase on site. You can have up to eight people in your car, so families with larger vehicles can fill them up!
While inside the fairgrounds you’ll drive under, around and through both static and dynamic displays, and if you tune your car’s radio to 107.7 fm you’ll be able to hear not only holiday music, but information from workers at the event.
In addition to all of the lights, there were about a dozen real fire trucks that were decorated to be seen along the way.
Along the way there are four stops. The first three are food-only. Again, you stay in your car and workers at the stops bring your food to you. Items you can buy range from holiday drinks (hot chocolates, ciders, eggnog), to dinner (a variety of empanadas), desserts (zeppole, fried Oreos, funnel cakes and more), and treats (cotton candy, nachos, pretzels, etc.) It also looked like people had brought their own hot drinks and snacks, a good idea if you wanted to keep the cost low.
At the fourth stop you’ll enter — still in your car — a large building that turns into a video extravaganza, featuring holiday songs you may want to sing along with. (At this point, I need to apologize to anyone who was in the show we were in … my husband has an affinity for the song “Let it Go” from Frozen … and he sang it. Loud. It was a tad embarrassing!)
At this last stop you can also purchase light necklaces and gingerbread house kits to take home.
The whole event took just under an hour for us, and it was relaxing, made for good photos for those who are social media users, and, if you were hungry, you could definitely leave full. The event runs through January 3, daily from 5-10 p.m.
For more information, visit www.orangecountyfair.com.
