By David Haerle/
The Daily World …
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
Take a look at the Satsop park
It’s beaming through the dark
With parking lots and nuke tower aglow”
Apologies to songwriter Meredith Willson, but it seemed apt to have some fun with some all-too-fleeting good news these days.
Seems a bunch of nice people came together with a pretty cool holiday idea that could make a lot of local spirits bright — literally and figuratively.
Harbor Lights is planned to be a fun, festive and socially distanced event. The light show — with accompanying Christmas music to be piped in through car radios — will be projected onto one of the cooling towers and across the parking area at Port of Grays Harbor’s Satsop Business Park on Wednesday, Dec. 23.
The first show is set to begin at 6 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to be parked and ready at showtime. The show will be displayed on only the western tower. The location of the parking lot is at the intersection of Tower Boulevard and Lambert Road. Attendees are encouraged to watch from the warmth and safety of their personal vehicles.Parking is limited, so show up a bit early and feel free to bring your own snacks and hot cocoa. Social distancing and masks are required. No onsite restrooms will be available.
The event, hosted by Summit Pacific Medical Foundation, is co-sponsored by the Port, Slick Lasers and Emerald City Events.
In looking for a way to bring cheer to the community and end the year with a free, festive family event, the Summit Pacific Medical Foundation got creative.
“We’re really excited to offer a family-friendly event that is safe for all. We can’t thank our community partners and staff enough for pulling this off so quickly,” said SPMC Foundation Executive Director Emily Dillingham,
The event is the brainchild of Natalie Jensen, SPMC’s events coordinator, who became inspired after seeing the Halloween light show in Hoquiam and finding out that Montesano’s annual Festival of Lights event was canceled, according to SPMC spokeswoman Nichole Pas.
And when Rick Hale, owner of Tukwila-based Slick Lasers, was approached regarding the show, he was so excited about the prospect, his company jumped on board as a co-sponsor.
Hale, who has been in the laser light show business for more than 20 years and is currently also involved in the “Starlight Lane” — a holiday drive-through event at the Lumen Field parking garage in Seattle.
“This is the first time we’ve ever projected on a nuclear plant tower,” said Hale of the local event. “This is a fine service and exciting project for us. We want to make it as big an opportunity and as eventful as possible, so we decided to sponsor the event also.
“It’s a Christmas laser show that’s going to be about 20 minutes,” added Hale. “Animation will be projected on the tower with laser beams projected over the parking lot” and gathered cars. “The tower is our screen, and it will all be sequenced to music people can listen to” through their car radios, he noted.
While Hale is preparing a “Christmas” spectacular, one has to wonder about the timing as Dec. 23 is also the annual observance of “Festivus,” the now-legendary secular holiday celebrated as an alternative to the pressures and commercialism of the Christmas season. “Festivus” is the brainchild of writer Daniel Lawrence O’Keefe. He was an editor at Reader’s Digest for more than 30 years. He is credited for creating Festivus, but it became more widely known after his eldest son, television writer Dan O’Keefe, featured it in a December 1997 episode of the sitcom “Seinfeld,” which made Festivus world famous for its celebratory “feats of strength” and “airing of grievances.”
Queried after announcing the event, SPMC’s Nichole Pas stated that while the Festivus tie-in is “awesome,” it is merely a “coincidence.”
But for those of us looking for 20 minutes of relief from 2020 and a bit of much-need holiday cheer, we’ll simply call it a “Festivus Miracle!”
