MACON, Ga. — Over a million twinkling lights are being taken down after 41 days of music, decorations and entertainment.
The Macon Light Extravaganza is done for the season.
“Everyone was having a good time and it was just a beautiful year this year,” Bryan Nichols said.
He’s the organizer of the event and also builds the show. Nichols says it gets bigger every year.
“Yeah, it started out with just two and a half city blocks and 250,000 lights,” he explained.
Now, over 850- 900,000 people visit downtown to see the extravaganza. That's how many people Visit Macon calculates were there for the show that’s now doubled in size.
Nichols said he saw six people get engaged among the new ornament displays and an opening night concert.
“It's still a little mind-blowing to me. I mean, the lines were not just around by Just Tap'd, but then coming back down the sidewalks,” he laughed. “That just starts tradition for that family as being the place they'll never forget.”
The more the show grows, so does the business for downtown.
“There were many nights the line was to the door,” said Kevin Reaves, owner of Taste & See Coffee Shop.
He says they trained staff for two months to prepare.
“We would have, probably, 300 to 400 orders. Each order would be three to five people, so you just never know,” Reaves said.
Next door at Your Pie, they also saw business a-plenty.
“Thousands, I don't know. You don't have enough seats in the restaurant,” General Manager Candis Wilburn said.
She worked every night of the extravaganza
“We are so excited when November gets here, we know the business is coming, we are ready for it,” she said.
She says they prep triple the amount of food to keep up because the event generates 14% of what they make in a year in just the month of December.
“It's just so much business in the 40 days and I would be lying if I didn't say that we were happy when they take them down too,” Wilburn laughed.
Reaves says business tends to slow down during January and February.
“I would venture to say that it's a blessing that the lights will get us through the next two to three months until it does pick up again. I can't think that there would be any business that does not benefit from the lights,” Reaves said.
It's a gift for all.
“Thank you to everybody who came – looking forward to seeing everyone next year, and we can’t wait to show the new stuff we're going to do,” Nichols said.
He says they started taking lights down Thursday morning. Nichols says it takes a month to put them all up and a month to take them down.
Once they’re all removed, he says they’ll begin planning for next year's event.