Community Successes

Clarke County Volunteers Collaborate for Athens
Holiday Lights

A group of tenacious volunteers in Clarke County have a collaborative success to be proud of during the holiday season. Individuals and organizations in the Athens area recently came together for a huge undertaking to create Athens Holiday Lights, a choreographed, drive-through spectacle and light show at Sandy Creek Park in Athens, every evening from Thanksgiving through New Year's from
6 - 9:30 p.m.

Visitors who drive through the nearly one-mile circular drive will see 30 spectacular holiday light displays sponsored by local businesses and other organizations.

Tim Johnson, coordinator of Athens-Clarke County Family Connection/Communities In Schools, said there were significant up-front costs.

"We paid nearly $20,000 for electrical work, which would have been much more had the contractor, Tucker Electric, not done the work at cost," he said. "The electrical work was a one-time expense. Jackson EMC, which serves the park, donated an additional transformer and several switches."

Johnson said the displays, which range from a simple sled with gifts to animated deer leaping over the road, lease anywhere from $700 to more than $10,000. The Athens-Clarke County Unified Government, which owns the park, will provide two staff people each evening, and their salaries will be paid. He said liability insurance cost another $3,000.

Athens Holiday Lights sponsors include the University of Georgia Athletic Association, Athens Banner-Herald, Heyward Allen Motor Company, Fairway Advertising, Athens Regional Medical Center, St. Mary's Hospital, Chastain & Associates Insurance Agency, Athens Pilot Club, The Frierson Group at Meryll Lynch, Morgan Keegan Company, Bank of America, and Wendy's.

Fairway Advertising donated billboards in the area to advertise the event. Their sponsorship included designing, providing materials for, and contributing free advertising space on the billboards.

The Athens Banner-Herald, the area newspaper, published an eight-page color tabloid, including an event program, as an insert to its Sunday edition before the Thanksgiving launch of Athens Holiday Lights. The newspaper also printed extra copies for distribution in the community and for visitors at the entrance gate of the event. The tabloid included a map, a list of sponsors, and information about Family Connection and Communities In Schools. The newspaper also sold advertising for the publication.

Johnson said a collaborative board member originated the idea for the event. Terry Tellefson, CEO of Partner Advantage Behavioral Health Systems, got the idea from his sister-in-law, who has organized a similar event in Dubuque, Iowa, for the last nine years. He said it has netted more than $700,000 for a Dubuque children's home.

The Athens Holiday Lights Steering Committee organized the event. The group is chaired by Athens-Clarke County Tax Commissioner Nancy Denson. Hank Huckaby, University of Georgia executive vice president for Finance, serves as finance chair. (Huckaby was the former director of the state Office of Planning & Budget and was a key figure in the initial development of Family Connection.) The steering committee includes several subcommittees, including sponsorship, volunteers, and marketing.

Sandy Creek Park is located on U.S. Hwy. 441, just north of the Athens perimeter, near the Jackson County line.

Admission is $10 per vehicle Friday through Sunday and $7 per vehicle Monday through Thursday for cars, vans, and trucks. Bus admission is $30 Friday through Sunday and $20 Monday through Thursday. Net proceeds from admissions will benefit Athens-Clarke County Family Connection/Communities In Schools.