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Winter Glow to light up Riverfront Park through holidays

Jerry Schmidt works on the setup for the second annual Winter Glow Spectacular in Riverfront Park. He also leads up Spike & Dig and had a hand in creating Hoopfest. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
Jerry Schmidt works on the setup for the second annual Winter Glow Spectacular in Riverfront Park. He also leads up Spike & Dig and had a hand in creating Hoopfest. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)Buy a print of this photo

The second annual Winter Glow Spectacular light show in Riverfront Park is set to open at 6 p.m. Friday.

Jerry Schmidt, event director, said the free show will be even better than the inaugural effort to light up the park for the holidays in 2014.

“It will be cooler than the North Pole,” he said.

In all, Schmidt and his crew expect to string about 1 million lights, which is double the amount in the displays last year.

The animated zoo area will have new animals and displays.

Among the new pieces is a band with a 20-foot dancing bear.

“That’s our show stopper,” Schmidt said.

A new North Pole exhibit has a huge sleigh – with reindeer – visitors can climb aboard the sleigh for photos. There will be six different workshops set up for fun.

There is also a Wonderland exhibit with a drummer boy, pianist and snowmen.

About 100 community sponsors have joined in helping support the event.

Schmidt said welding students at Spokane Community College built the frames for the displays. Students at Spokane Valley Tech built trees.

The displays will highlight the work of various nonprofit agencies in the Spokane area.

The city of Spokane allows free use of the park as well as providing electrical power.

Schmidt said he is trying to incorporate more LED lights this year for power conservation.

“I personally love the hands on stuff,” Schmidt said of assembling the displays. He is a retired office worker. “I like the physical piece of it,” he said.

Putting up the Winter Glow displays ran into trouble last week from storm damage in Riverfront Park.

It left exhibits from the Chinese Lantern Festival strewn across the park as well as downed trees, which blocked the efforts of Schmidt to get all of the displays set up. He had help from a work release crew from Geiger Detention Center.

Mike Prager

When: Lighting ceremony 6 p.m. Friday. Display lights will be on at 5-9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 31.

Cost: Free

Info: www.spokanewinterglow.com