High fees force businesses, nonprofits to rethink annual Holiday Lights show
WEST FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — Local businesses and nonprofits are feeling left out of the holiday lights display because of the event being more expensive now that it’s moved to the Red River Valley Fair than it was at Lindenwood Park.
“We recognize that this has been turned over to a much more commercial aspect rather than a community aspect. There’s nothing that we can say that’s gonna make that different. We’re just disappointed in it. That’s all,” Red River Regional Marksmanship Center Treasurer Lisa Dirk said.
There’s a new plan for organizations that want to sponsor.
“Sponsors will have, instead of coming up to set up their own displays and tear down themselves, we have set them up already. They get to choose between various themes,” Director of Marketing and Events at the Red River Valley Fair Elizabeth Birkemeyer said.
Some previous sponsors have no plans to come back due to rising costs.
“We still want them to be involved. We’ve offered discounts for this transition year to keep people involved and bringing in those non-profits to help us to see what’s going on. We just want everyone to come out and enjoy it to see how great it’s gonna be and make it part of their Christmas traditions. It’ll be about a mile-and-a-half of designs, at least twice as many as last year,” Birkemeyer said
The price to attend has also increased at $20 per car, an increase of $12.
A bronze level non-profit sponsor that was displayed in previous holiday lights shows now costs $500 to display. It’s double that for businesses and at least $2,000 for new sponsors. In previous years, businesses had to pay $100 while non-profits could sponsor for $50.
“We really enjoyed the tradition of putting up our own display and customizing our space which both advertised for our non-profit and a fun activity for our volunteer staff. The new prices are five to 10 times higher than previous years for sponsorships that now include only a basic sign with a logo. For a small non-profit, that kind of increase puts it well out of reach for us,” Chair of Anime Fargo 2022 Adam said.
Some feel like the community charm won’t be there this year.
“We felt that the holiday lights down at Lindenwood was a good return on our investment. It was fun to do. The fact that they increased the price so much that we can’t afford to do it is disappointing. We always enjoyed that aspect of the holiday season and felt it was a good place for families to go,” Dirk said.
Red River Valley Fair officials say the F-M Sertoma Club reached out to them sometime last year about hosting this year’s show. The club owned and operated the holiday lights show for the last 20 years.
