Winter Glow moves to fairgrounds

This year, Winter Glow is on the move. The annual holiday light show is moving to the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center after two years at Riverfront Park.

The move was partly spurred by construction at the downtown park, but was really more about having room to expand, said founder Jerry Schmidt.

At the fairgrounds, “we’re able to do a lot of new things,” he said, including having some of the festival inside.

“We’re pretty excited about being out here. It’s going to give us an opportunity to grow for the next couple years,” Schmidt said.

The display will still include the animal light zoo and North Pole, plus photo ops with Santa and Tedi the Yeti, vendors, and entertainment by local choirs and other groups.

Visitors wanted a more interactive experience, Schmidt said. So among the additions this year is a craft area where, for $3, children can choose a wooden ornament to paint and take home.

Also new: a holiday film festival. Winter Glow will be screening short, local documentaries, with the top film winning a $1,000 prize.

And, of course, there will be more lights, including a holiday maze (think corn maze, but out of lights), an enchanted forest and new wooden animals, plus a few Chinese lanterns mixed in. Visitors can walk through the outdoor displays, or buy tickets for a train ride. And, when it gets too cold, they can head back inside.

“Here, we got a lot of light shows inside. You can go outside then come back in and get warm, then go outside again,” Schmidt said.

Kimberly Lusk