Millions of lights and miles of electrical cords: Behind the scenes of the Fantasy of Lights

Much like the lighting of the Wolf & Dessauer Santa in Downtown Fort Wayne, the opening of the Fantasy of Lights in Franke Park marks the unofficial start of the holiday season for Fort Wayne. The attraction has been a beloved tradition for generations, as this season marks the 30th annual Fantasy of Lights.

The show features 186 scenes, with more than 700 individual displays, an estimated 3,500,000 LED lights, and over 25 miles of electrical cords. Running a large-scale drive-thru light show is no small feat. Planning for the show starts in January, and the crew begins setting up in early September – long before the event’s opening day in November. 

Rachel Von Art LLCField Team Supervisor Tom West untangles lights at Blue Jacket's Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park.Rachel Von Art LLCField Team Supervisor Tom West untangles lights at Blue Jacket's Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park.Blue Jacket, Inc. is responsible for the event's planning and execution. As a nonprofit, they work to address barriers to employment by providing training and other opportunities to those striving to earn gainful employment. Their management of Fantasy of Lights is one of a few ventures they utilize to help people. 

Though the Fantasy of Lights has been around for three decades, Executive Director Tony Hudson says Blue Jacket’s association is relatively recent. They took over the fundraiser in 2015 when the AWS Foundation was looking to move away from being at the helm of what was an all-volunteer-run event at the time. 

Rachel Von Art LLCTony Hudson, director of Blue Jacket, Inc.Hudson says Fantasy of Lights has changed significantly over the years, but the spirit of the attraction has remained the same. 

“I think at that time, there were about 68 display scenes that we inherited,” he explains. “So the [route] was just one single loop in and out of Sherman Boulevard, and that single loop was about a mile and a half long. Today we’ve grown to three miles long, and we have 186 display scenes, so in 10 years, it has grown pretty significantly.”

The event was first set up and contained within the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo and has always been a community-oriented, non-profit venture. Sponsorships and fundraising have been instrumental in its success over the years.

In addition to growing the size of the event, Hudson says they’ve slowly moved away from being a strictly volunteer operation.

Rachel Von Art LLCField Team Supervisor Tom West, left, and Connor West work together to string lights.“When we took over in 2015, we ended up hiring a few people to lead our field team,” he says. “We were still using volunteers at the time for setup and teardown and we were also using volunteers for the nightly operations of taking money and directing traffic and just kind of moving things forward.”

Blue Jacket staff, clients and volunteers now produce the entire event. In contrast, in years past they hired outside help. Hudson says the transition to executing the event in-house was a strategic move they made in 2018 to better align with their mission.

Plans call for employing more than 65 clients who will work in all areas, including set-up, teardown, and maintenance. He anticipates at least 10,500 labor hours will be in the books between setup, planning, hosting, and teardown in 2024. More than half of those hours will be dedicated solely to setup, which required some extra creative thinking and strategy from Field Team Supervisor Tom West this year.

Rachel Von Art LLCField Team Supervisor Tom West works on putting a stake in the ground for the lights at Blue Jacket's Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park.“We have a new entrance and we have to take into account the whole schematic [involved] in adding an additional mile,” Hudson says. “Both have forced us to re-create where every display goes, what fits where. For example, if you have a large field and we have a 30-foot tall by 60-foot wide display that's in the tens of thousands of pounds, we're going to put that in the wide open field and if there’s a little nook in a corner that presented itself, we're going to put a small, four-foot display there.”

In addition to a new entrance and an extended route, Blue Jacket added 30 displays for the lineup for the 2024 season.

Rachel Von Art LLCConnor West helps with an extension cord while setting up lights at Blue Jacket's Fantasy of Lights.Another change this year is the incorporation of purchasing tickets online ahead of time.  Local digital agency Reusser Design stepped up to create an app that will facilitate ticket purchasing, an interactive map and other activities. Hudson says he believes this will positively impact the drive-thru experience.

“When people can purchase tickets ahead of time that decreases wait times,” he says. “It’s going to help traffic control, attendance and much more. We’re excited about it.”

The costs associated with running an attraction of this size add up quickly. After all obligations are settled, all proceeds go back into the organization's programs to fund job coaching, case management and job placement. In this way, when people go through the lights display, they’re helping give clients a hand up. Hudson says this is especially important right now, as demand for Blue Jacket’s services has tripled in the last two years. While the need is great, it’s also important to the organizers that they keep the entry cost the same, at $15 a carload, to make it accessible for community members.

Rachel Von Art LLCAmanda Lapham works on setting up lights during her shift at Blue Jacket's Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park.Not only does Fantasy of Lights provide a job opportunity that gives Blue Jacket clients a sense of dignity and purpose, but it also gives the greater community a chance to connect with the mission and get to know Blue Jacket clients as multidimensional people and not just stereotypes. Hudson says in-car broadcasts narrated by Blue Jacket clients also inform patrons about the event, details about Blue Jacket’s mission and the people it impacts.

“I think [this interaction] does dispel some preconceived notions on who we are, especially when we deliver our services with excellence,” he says. “We hope that customers drive through the Fantasy of Lights and feel like it was a great experience and really professional. And then when they find out it was put together by a nonprofit that helps people from the margins, we hope that that shines a light towards building humans’ capacity for excellence.”

Rachel Von Art LLCAmanda Lapham works on setting up lights during her shift at Blue Jacket's Fantasy of Lights at Franke Park.For Hudson and the Blue Jacket team, this chapter of the light show’s history is about elevating the event so it continues to delight families “into perpetuity.” Hudson says he always wants to provide a sense of comfort and childlike awe in a world that often feels uncertain. After nearly a decade of running Fantasy of Lights, it seems the organization is well on its way to accomplishing this goal.

“Thirty years into this, they're taking their own children through and it also has been a tradition with taking the older generation through, too,” he says. “Older [people] really appreciate holiday lights and it feels good [to give them that experience]. I think for nostalgia’s sake, it’s become their annual tradition.”

Hudson says they’ve been in planning mode since early January and since then, there have been countless office hours, meetings and time in the field. Hudson says they had their work cut out for them ahead of the November 18 opening, but he’s excited about the prospect of having another magical Fantasy of Lights season under their belt.

Rachel Von Art LLCA Fantasy of Lights display from the 2023 season.Blue Jacket Fantasy of Lights is open Sunday-Thursday from 5:30-9:30 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:30-10 p.m. from November 18 until December 31. 

Admission is $15 per vehicle, $30 per 12-passenger vans/limos, and $60 for buses and trolleys. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or on the Fantasy of Lights app.

Visit the attraction’s website for details on theme nights, discounted admission and more information.