About 250,000 lights now fill the gardens for the Holiday Lights show at Shore Acres State Park with color. About two-thirds of them are now brighter LED lights. - World Photo by Lou Sennick

If you missed the opening display on Thanksgiving night, you still have more than a month to visit the 21st-annual Holiday Lights at Shores Acres State Park. The celebration will continue to welcome guests through New Year’s Eve to a near-blinding display of more than a quarter-million lights, holiday music and merriment.  

The community tradition, which runs from 4 to 10 p.m. nightly through Dec. 31, includes a walk-through light display featuring light sculptures of pelicans, puffins, jellyfish, Shore Acres’ cranes, a leaping orca, a spouting gray whale, flowers, playful sea lions and other glowing creatures; a decorated garden house where visitors can snack on cookies and sip warm drinks and live music.

Founded in 1987 by the Friends of Shore Acres, which continues to carry the event today, Holiday Lights at Shore Acres began with 6,000 lights and one Christmas tree. It drew nearly 9,000 visitors. Now, the spectacle brings in 40,000 to 50,000 people each season. Last year, about 46,000 people viewed the lights display, according to the group's Web site.

Entertainment will be a nightly feature at the Shore Acres pavilion, where carolers, bands and assorted musicians will help visitors get into the holiday spirit.

 Dino Coolen, the Holiday Lights entertainment coordinator who shares his duties with his wife, Cindy, said 32 groups, including high school bands, church choruses and local carolers will be performing holiday music from Thanksgiving Day to New Year’s Eve. Some evenings will have as many as four groups entertaining.

“Some days are blank, so far, but we are hoping to fill those up,” Coolen said.  

Entertainers include trumpet player Charles Davison, who will be playing from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. on Nov. 27; Undivided Heart, a vocal trio from Lincoln City that performs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 1; the Gold Pannies of the Riverboat Revue, a group of carolers from Bandon that will sing in colorful costumes from 7 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 6; the Cape Blanco Ringers-English Handbell Choir, a group from Port Orford who will chime from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 8; and the Bay Area Concert Band, an instrumental group from Coos Bay, that will play from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 13.

Cindy Coolen said the music transforms the experience into a richer holiday event.  

“There is a variety of things for them to do once they come out. To me, it just adds to the whole atmosphere,” Cindy Coolen said. “It’s definitely worth going to see.”

She said park guests also will be able to visit the park’s gift shop and can meet members from a variety of community organizations who will host the event and be on hand to answer questions about the Holiday Lights.

Hosts include Oregon Coast Community Action, the Coos Bay-North Bend Rotary, the Bay Area Bonsai Society, Cutting Edge Hair Designs, North Bend Medical Centers, Marshfield Student Council, South Coast Singles, the South Coast Cruisers Car Club and the Friends of Shore Acres, among others.

Admission is a $3 per vehicle parking fee. For more information about Holiday Lights, those interested can call Shores Acres at 888-3732 or visit http://www.shoreacres.net.