Christmas lights drive

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas lights drive-through season.

Plenty of places in our region beckon with bedazzled holiday light displays ready to fill carloads of people with extra Christmas cheer.

Let us suggest these drive-throughs:

Founded in 1993 at 600 Clinton Park Drive in Findlay Township, not far from Pittsburgh International Airport (type "Imperial" for GPS), this one-mile drive-through experience of light displays is tucked amid a wooded setting.

Open 5 to 10 p.m. daily from Nov. 19 through Jan. 1, the "best kept holiday secret in Pittsburgh" costs $10 per carload (cash only), a portion of which is donated to charities and individuals in need.

Details at the light show's Facebook page.

Two miles of custom light displays twinkling in synchronization with festive music highlight this drive-through Christmas event opening Nov. 18 and running through Jan. 1 at a new Butler County location, Coopers Lake.

Admission is $30 per carload weekdays, and $40 on pre-Christmas weekends.

Custom-built light displays dance in synchronization with festive music playing on the radio in your car, including a 300-foot drive-through RGB tunnel and 50-foot RGB light tree. Held last year at the Butler County Fairgrounds, new this year is a Favorite Tales display theme featuring custom-built, giant, all-LED displays showcasing scenes from favorite fairy tales.

A Santa's Village opens nightly from 6-10 p.m. with Santa visits through Dec. 23, plus a station for writing Christmas letters to Santa, food trucks and freshly popped kettle corn. Admission into Santa's Village is free with admission to the light show. Service pets only in the village.

Give your engine a rest and savor the seasonal air in your lungs at the Very Merry Christmas event at Wright fields at Chippewa Township Veterans Park on Dec. 3.

The walk-through Christmas lights display lasts from 4-8 p.m.

Santa, vendors and food trucks will be there. Newly added is an outdoor synthetic ice rink.

Admission is $10 per car presale and $15 at the gate.

More details at the Chippewa Recreation Department Facebook page.

The Let There Be Lights Festival runs from 6-9 p.m. Dec. 2 on Lawrence Avenue and the community plaza, in downtown Ellwood City.

Festivities include the ceremonial lighting of the 25-foot Christmas tree at 7:45 p.m., followed by fireworks. There's live entertainment, including a brass band and carolers, and vendors set up from Fourth Street through Sixth Street, along with horse-drawn carriage rides from Misty Lane Farms.

On the same night, Christmas in The Park will begin in Ewing Park, with a drive-through Christmas Display. The free display will be open every night leading up to Christmas. There will be more details with themed nights, food trucks, picture with Santa, and more at ellwoodchamber.org

On Dec. 3 is an Ugly Sweater 5k in Ewing Park, and the Christmas Parade on Lawrence Avenue from Third Street to Eighth Street, starting at 3:30 p.m.

On Dec. 3, from 4-7 p.m., Hopewell Community Park offers kids a train ride to the North Pole and a visit with Santa Claus, plus hot chocolate and cookies. There will be a model train exhibit from noon to 7 p.m. and the park will come alive with lights galore.

Earlier that day, from noon to 4 p.m., the Hopewell Holiday Trail will feature at least six hometown merchants providing specials, free appetizers and free mini ornament giveaways. Receive a sticker from each stop to place in your Holiday Trail Brochure then bring it to the park from 2-5 p.m. or weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (office closed for lunch noon-1 p.m.) to receive a free 12-inch Christmas tree. Find the Elf hiding in each establishment to be entered to win even more prizes.

Details at hopewelltwp.com

Across the state line, in Columbiana, Ohio, stands the Joy of Christmas Light Show drive-thru holiday display open Thursdays through Sundays through Dec. 31, and all weekdays beginning Dec. 11.

These displays feature more than one million lights on 80 outdoor displays.at Harvey S. Firestone Park, 298 E. Park Ave., a 14-minute drive from the Pennsylvania line, northwest of Darlington.

Donations (cash only) of $20 per vehicle; $3 per person on motorcoach, bus, or passenger van; or $40 for a season pass.

Among the new displays to be enjoyed this year include the Singing Christmas Lightbulbs scene and a Snow Man Family of Four outside the Ice Castle with cutouts for picture-taking opportunities.

Visitors also can stop at the Gingerbread House and Santa's Ice Castle to enjoy Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, and food for purchase from local non-profit groups.

Photo opportunities include pictures with Santa in the Ice Castle for purchase through Dec. 23; with Snow Princesses in the Ice Castle from Dec. 25 through Dec. 31. There's also Mrs. Claus's Story Time in the Gingerbread House on Thursdays and Sundays; a collection of decorated gingerbread houses; and a new indoor train display.

A million or more holiday lights will dazzle in this walk-through display at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin on select dates between Nov. 21 and Jan. 1.

Take a stroll among more than one million twinkling lights. Savor the flavors of new festive foods and holiday drinks. Plus, there are rides for the kids and special entertainment for all.

Nominated as one of the Top-10 holiday light displays by USA Today, more details and updates are at kennywood.com

Still one of the best reasons for a Wheeling, W.Va. road trip, one of the nation's largest holiday light shows dates to 1985, attracting more than one million visitors each year.

Festival of Lights features 300 acres of dancing lights over a six-mile drive, including 90 lighted attractions with more than one million energy-efficient LED lights.

This year's festival runs nightly through Jan. 9.

Admission is $25.

For directions and more, visit oglebay.com

This ticketed, 45-minute light show synchronized with holiday music, runs Dec. 9-22 at Allegheny County's North Park.

Families enjoy from their own vehicles parked at the North Park Swimming Pool Parking Lot on South Ridge Drive.

Visitors can choose from three session times Sundays through Thursdays (6, 7:30 and 9 p.m.), or four weekend session times on Fridays and Saturdays (6, 7:30, 9 and 10:30 p.m.). Each session accommodates 200 cars.

The cost is $20 per vehicle, with details at alleghenycounty.us.

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