Holiday Lights in the Park Display Assembly Media Event Thursday & Friday this week in Saint Paul's Phalen Park

ST. PAUL, MINN. – November 18, 2015 - Holiday Lights in the Park, the Midwest’s largest outdoor holiday light display, will illuminate St. Paul’s Phalen Park for an eighth straight year starting next week. The lights are set to go on Tuesday, November 24 and brighten the season until January 1, 2016.

For 39 evenings Phalen Park will be lit up with a wide variety of holiday-themed displays. Visitors tour the displays in the warm confines of their vehicle, making weather a non-factor. More than 20,000 cars have visited Holiday Lights in the Park in each of its seven previous seasons making it the area’s largest nightly holiday celebration.

Before families can come to enjoy the displays, volunteers from the Saint Paul Police Foundation and participating groups will be hard at work setting up over 60 unique light sculptures this Thursday and Friday, November 19-20, in an event open to the media.

2015 Holiday Lights in the Park Event Set-Up: MEDIA ONLY

What: More than 60 holiday-themed light displays located on a driving path will be set-up

When: Assembly crews onsite: Thursday, Nov 19th & Friday Nov 20th – 10:00am to 3:30pm both days.

Where: Phalen Park, 1615 Phalen Drive East, in St. Paul – Enter park like driving to Club House.

Who: Saint Paul Police Foundation, along with volunteers from St. Paul Police Department and NECA.

The cause behind Holiday Lights is the same as it’s been for the last seven years: To raise funds at the event to make the St. Paul area safer for citizens and law enforcement officials. In the past seven years, Holiday Lights has raised nearly $400,000 for a variety of St. Paul and East Metro nonprofits. This year, proceeds from the event will go to support the work of the Saint Paul Police Foundation and the Union Gospel Mission Child Development Center. Since its inception in 2005, the Foundation has raised nearly $5 million to help support numerous SPPD initiatives including providing lifesaving equipment, Shop with Cops, the Safe City Camera program, Cops and Kids program and a variety of resources for crime victims.

“These funds go to support things the typical police department budget can’t accommodate,” said Kevin Moore, who co-chairs the event with Susan Jones. “It definitely takes a community to build a strong department. Our volunteers understand that and they always answer the call. Giving back seems to be in the blood of many a St. Paulite.”

Holiday Lights will open a half hour earlier this season at 5 p.m. to allow even more visitors to see the impressive displays. In addition, guests can purchase tickets online this year at a $2 discount from the $10 per vehicle charge at Phalen Park.

About Holiday Lights:

Holiday Lights in the Park is a venture of the Saint Paul Police Foundation with the sole purpose of creating a fun and affordable holiday event that raises funds to help protect the men and women who protect the residents of St. Paul. All of the net proceeds of the event will be distributed through the Saint Paul Police foundation to the St. Paul Police Department to provide enhanced safety and training to officers and help fund the department’s many volunteer organizations. Holiday Lights in the Park is open nightly from November 24-January 1, 2016 at St. Paul’s Phalen Park. To purchase tickets you can visit our website: http://www.saintpaulpolicefoundation.com/, or for more information you can find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stpaulpolicefoundation or follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/StPaulPoliceFdn. An event like this couldn’t happen without the dedication of numerous volunteers, including the department’s Reserve Unit, Explorer Program, Historical Society, Band and the Mounted and Motors Units. Volunteers from the St Paul Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) the SPPD Reserves and Explorers and Police Officers will be on hand each night to make sure the event runs smoothly.