The group received an update from Jonathan Abbott about the City of Batesville’s White River Winter Wonderland. After thanking the club for its work with the City on other projects, Abbott summarized last year’s light display. More than 42,000 vehicles drove through the light display in 2017. Those visitors donated more than $22,000 during their visit to the display. The City hopes to enhance and expand the display to create another successful tourism destination for the Christmas season. One project includes adding a mobile trolley for kids and persons of all ages that will drive through the display.
The project is extensive. The City uses at least one tractor-trailer container to store the lights each year with labels helping the workers know precisely where each display should be installed. Workers carefully pack the items away each year, making the setup process much smoother than when the group originally began the event several years ago. Abbott mentioned the master plan for the display, including the location of trees and each individual light display in the park.
The light show requires many hours of programming to ensure each light is synchronized with the Christmas music featured during the event. As many as forty hours of programming could be necessary for one song. Abbott thanked the club for volunteering to assist with the donation station last year, and invited the community to continue donating towards the project by contacting him or the Mayor’s office at 698-2400. The display would not have been successful, Abbott noted, without the support of the Batesville community and its businesses. Abbott looks forward to continuing those partnerships in future displays.
About The Batesville Rotary Club: The Batesville Rotary Club was founded more than seventy-five years ago by local business leaders interested in serving the Batesville community. An international service organization, the Club works on projects in the community and around the state. It meets each Monday at noon in the Batesville Community Center.
