Thanksgiving hasn’t even arrived yet, we know, but it’s already time to start thinking about enjoying Christmas lights.
Specifically, we mean The Lights of Christmas at Warm Beach Camp south of Stanwood.
This walkable holiday extravaganza — 15 acres of illuminated displays, children’s activities, holiday shopping, food and five stages with live entertainment — can be an evening out or a festive overnight getaway. Here’s what you need to know to visit this local tradition, now in its 14th year.
When: General admission hours are 5 to 10 p.m. Dec. 2 to 5, 9 to 12, 16 to 23, 26 to 29. Saturdays are the busiest.
Where: Warm Beach Christian Camps &Conference Center, known as Warm Beach Camp, 20800 Marine Drive, Stanwood, about 10 miles west of Smokey Point, Exit 206 off I-5. What: Billed as the largest holiday light display in the Northwest, The Lights of Christmas is the ultimate Snohomish County spectacle, including seven themed lighting areas, myriad children’s activities and multiple food venues, plus warming fires to keep you toasty.
Eats: Multiple food vendors will offer a variety of hot drinks, snacks, desserts and dinner entrees such as sourdough bread bowls filled with Ivar’s clam chowder.
Visitors can also warm up with hot, fresh doughnuts or indulge in caramel apples, or apple or pumpkin pie. Food venues accept cash only, but an ATM is available on-site.
Kid stuff: Children can ride a Polar Express train, take pony rides, pet the animals in the Nativity scene, make wooden toys and meet the famous talking Christmas tree, Bruce the Spruce.
Entertainment: Five stages will feature free nightly performances from local music and theater groups.
“Uff Da! It’s Christmas,” a variety revue about the Scandinavian immigration experience, hugely popular last year, will be performed twice each Sunday night.
Dinner theater: Dinner theater performances of “Christmas on the Tumblin’ D” will be from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Dec. 2 to 4, 9 to 11, 16 to 18 and 22 to 23.
Written by Stanwood author and actress Victoria Ritchey in 2009, the romantic comedy, set in 1941, tells the story of Lucy, a fashionable Boston girl who heads west to spend Christmas on her aunt’s Colorado ranch.
Tickets are $39 or $48 and include a six-course meal and admission to the light displays on another night.
On Dec. 5, 12 and 19, there will be Sunday dessert matinee performances of the production from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $24 or $29 and include admission to the light displays.
Reservations are required for all “Tumblin’ D” performances.
What’s new: Want to stay warm? This year there is a new indoor entertainment venue, the Starry Night Coffeehouse, featuring live holiday entertainment including spoken word performances and acoustic music sets.
Works from local artists will be on display and available for purchase. Food concessions will include espresso drinks and assorted baked goods.
Access: The Lights of Christmas is not a drive-through event. It is wheelchair and stroller accessible. Parking is free.
Cost: Admission is $14 for ages 13 to 59, $9 for military and age 60 and older, $8 for ages 4 to 12, and free for children ages 3 and younger. Group discounts are available. Purchase tickets at the gate or at www.warmbeachlights.com. If you buy your tickets online, you can bypass the line at the gate.
Stay overnight: Don’t worry about driving home for bedtime after seeing lights. Stay overnight in a motel-style lodge or a cabin, cottage or five-bedroom house that sleeps 18.
Rates start at $164 per room and include admission to the light displays and a buffet breakfast. Reservations are required.
More information: See www.warmbeachlights.com for entertainment schedules, detailed dinner theater menu options or call 800-228-6724.
By the numbers
1 million: Lights featured in The Lights of Christmas holiday displays, enough strands to stretch from Warm Beach Camp to Qwest Field in Seattle.
600,000: People who have seen the lights during the past 13 years, an average of 50,000 people annually.
350,000: Lights that must be repurchased every year, despite repair work done by volunteers to keep existing lights working.
15,000: Hours volunteers donate every year to help put the lights up.
1997: Year The Lights of Christmas began, inspired in part by Christmas in the Park in Nashville.
800: Volunteers who help create displays.
100: Volunteers who help staff the event each night.
90: Percent of lights taken down immediately after the event.
20: Nights the festival is open for viewing.
15: Acres of property with light displays.
7: People who begin hanging lights, five days a week, starting in early September, to be ready for opening day.
2: Full-time staff who work year-round on The Lights of Christmas.
Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037; sjackson@heraldnet.com.
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