HOLIDAY GLOW: Bill Allen conducts a test on an arch blazing with Christmas lights at the fairgrounds.
Jim McDilda's Christmas Holiday Spectacular may begin with white picket fences and archways bedecked with Christmas lights, but most of the surprises to greet visitors await beyond a cup of hot cocoa and a stroll down Candy Cane Lane.
On Friday, Nov. 27 at 5 p.m., Jim McDilda will unveil his biggest Christmas display ever. After wowing spectators with his Christmas display at his Redding home, McDilda moved his presentation to the mall in downtown Redding before moving it to Anderson this year.
With the extra space afforded to him at the Shasta District Fair grounds, his display for this holiday season has ballooned.
"This is kicking it up about 50 notches," he said, planning to "mesmerize [visitors] with sight and sound."
The event features an ice skating rink, rides on vintage model trains among an extravagant lighting display, live choir performances from area churches, Christmas photos by a portrait photographer, merchants selling Christmas toys and gifts, candy concessions, a nativity scene, and from food from Mary's Pizza Shack.
"Train buffs are in for a real treat," McDilda said of his two trains.
A steam engine built for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair is not only going to be on hand, McDilda expects it to take passengers. Built by Cagney Locomotive Works, McDilda said he ordered the train retrofitted to burn propane rather than coal.
The train even requires a licensed engineer to operate it, for which McDilda invited Greg Robinson of Grand Scales Quarterly in Red Bluff to run the train.
A train station 50 feet long is also in the works, he said.
McDilda also brings to the event a 1950 model train originally built for the Last Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas.McDilda said he plans to work on improving the event year round and build similar events in multiple locations, although he did not divulge where those locations might be.
McDilda's Christmas Holiday Spectacular is scheduled to run Nov. 27 through Dec. 27, open Monday through Friday from 5 p.m.-10 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon-10 p.m.
Entry to the event costs $5, with additional charges for various events. Children under three years are admitted without charge.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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