Light up your spirits; Springfield's Bright Nights sure to evoke holiday cheer.

Byline: Bob Datz

Soon, we'll be immersed in holiday spirit. But if the season's abrasive aspects threaten to expose your nerve endings, there's healing light on the landscape at Springfield's annual Bright Nights drive-through display.

With 550,000 bulbs at last count, I'll testify that Bright Nights can jump-start the most jaded. Or maybe it was the "Oh my God!" that burst from Peter, one of my fourth-grade companions, that defibrillated my faint heart last winter as our car rounded a corner to reveal acres of splendor in the city's Forest Park.

His twin brother Joseph had a fuller view of the outdoor bling. He stood between the front seats with his head popping out through the moon roof, eyeing displays up to 30 feet high. "Look-it that way! Look-it that way! GEEEEZ!" he hollered, but he was only seeing the start of our 2-1/2-mile drive through the 70-acre park.

The kids' commentary became more focused as the road became a slow conveyor belt entering the first display area, "Seussland," which has been a part of Bright Nights since it was launched 13 years ago.

Theodore Geisel, Dr. Seuss, hailed from this city, in fact from the original "Mulberry Street" where Seuss' dreams first unfolded on the printed page. But here they are magnified many times, from the Grinch's adopted "Whoville" to Horton the elephant hatching his egg. Each object in this section is an exact electric likeness of the Seuss drawing style, from the bend of a palm tree to the sway-back roofline of a house.

Bright Nights' own low-power FM radio station loops a backdrop of holiday music for car radios to enhance the experience, and it seems the lighting display and music are unintentionally in synch at times. How perfect it was, for instance, when the singer who came on as we entered the Garden of Peace section, added after 9-11, was John Lennon, who advocated for peace year-round, singing "And So This Is Christmas." Animated angels and flowers dominate this area, an oasis of reflection.

Another sort of reflection was more stunning: a pond's mirror image of a sleigh of lights, with wheels seeming to roll along its shore, while not far away a green electric fish seemed to jump from the water, landing with a bright orange splash.

Jurassic World breaks the wintry mold with its array of running and tail-swinging dinosaurs on either side of the road. "Oh, look at that baby triceratops," Joseph said in an almost nurturing voice when he spied one following behind a larger specimen. As grand as it was in its day, the Noah's Ark seems like small potatoes with a T-Rex looming ahead.

So diverse are the displays that the use of "holiday" rather than "Christmas" to describe them is truly appropriate. The luminescent Hanukkah menorah and Kwanzaa candles near the entrance establish that immediately.

And Zoe, the eighth-grade sister of the boys in our car, unknowingly established light as the common thread, declaring near the end: "There's just one thing I want to say: Thank-you very much, Mr. Edison."

Carloads of visitors - more than 35,600 vehicles last year - can thank a small but robustly supported organization called The Spirit of Springfield for Bright Nights and other community-building events. Its president, Judith Matt, said private sponsors and the per-vehicle admissions defray over $1 million in expenses to run the event between Thanksgiving week and New Year's. They rent the park and pay for police, traffic control and the crew of seven city Parks and Rec workers who set up and dismantle the exhibit.

The size of the display has grown each year, with the addition of a Santa's Cottage at the pit stop available along the way, a gift shop and refreshment area. This year that feature will become even more interactive, letting people change the color or light displays in the cottage area.

Without the stop, expect to spend a pleasant half-hour or more motoring through the park, but be warned: Reserve some holiday patience for a wait to enter Bright Nights. While the inconvenience is well worth it, easy access from Interstate 91 can come to a halt in a line of vehicles that forms soon after leaving the highway.

Our car waited 45 minutes to reach the Forest Park gate, so be sure to give everyone a bathroom break on the way to Springfield.

Biggest backups are on the weekends of Thanksgiving and in mid- to late December when as many as 2,000 carloads make the pilgrimage each evening. Weeknight traffic also swells during school breaks.

Bright Nights is an idea imported from similar displays in the South, which do well enough without snow to stoke the spirit of the season. With or without a carpet of white, the first such drive-through display established in the Northeast is now drawing busloads from Canada to New Jersey, Matt said, and has been ranked third-best of the 30 or so such displays in the nation.

And the millions of dollars it draws to a city known recently for its deep financial problems and federal corruption probe don't hurt a bit.

"Springfield's had some difficult times, but this one thing is continuing every year," Matt said. "This is a great event, and the fact is, there's nothing else like it during the winter months. We're the beginning of the holiday season."

If you go

On the Web: www.brightnights.org

Phone: [phone]

Open

Nov. 21 -Dec. 9: Wednesday through Sunday

Dec. 12 - Jan. 1: Nightly

Hours

Sunday through Thursday: 6 to 9 p.m.

Friday, Saturday and holidays: 6 to 11 p.m.

Buses by reservation only: 5 to 6 p.m.

Motor homes welcome any night after 6 p.m. (hours same as passenger cars)

Prices

(Cars, vans, trucks, motorcycles and

motor homes)

Monday through Thursday: $15

Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays: $17

Value Tickets: $13 each (blocks of 25 in advance or $12.50 at Big Y with the Big Y Express Card. Accepted all nights)

Holidays are Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day

Special events

Nightly through Dec. 22: Visit with Santa at Santa's Cottage

(First left after Seuss Land and then a stroll through Santa's Magical Forest.)

Nov. 28: Military Night (Admission waived for anyone with an active military ID)

Dec. 4: Bright Nights 5K Road Race (Limited to the first 500 entries. No post entries.)

Dec. 9: Supper with Santa at the Barney Carriage House. Call [phone] for

reservations.

Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in December (except Dec. 16): Horse-drawn wagon rides (purchase tickets in Santa's Cottage -- additional fee)

Directions:

From Worcester, take the Massachusetts Turnpike west to Exit 6 to I-291 West to I-91 South. Take I-91 Exit 4 (Route 83/Main Street). Left at light, straight through next light, first right up Longhill Street. Left at next light to Route 83 South. Proceed straight through two lights; Forest Park is on the right but get into right lane early - that's where the line will form.

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Light displays await visitors to Springfield's annual Bright Nights, opening this year on Nov. 21. (2) Opposite page, people can visit Santa at the gift shop.

PHOTOG: PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM RETTIG