Winter Lights Attendance Drops Bad Weather, Shorter Hours Contribute To 38 Percent Drop

Spokane’s 90,000-light wonderland could have used a little winter.

Rain and shorter operating hours meant small crowds at Spokane Winter Lights, a Christmas display at The Creek at Qualchan Golf Course.

Attendance and revenue dropped 38 percent, and organizers aren’t yet sure whether the display broke even.

“We’re still getting bills in. I believe we’re going to do OK,” said display chairwoman Judy Quinlivan.

Less traffic was good news for people who live near the golf course. Traffic jams stretched the quarter mile from the golf course to U.S. Highway 195 only three nights, compared to eight nights in 1994, the first year of the display.

But small crowds were bad news for the Spokane Parks and Recreation Foundation, which has more than $200,000 invested in the display and uses profits to improve city parks.

The drive-through show featured animated displays of leaping reindeer, putting golfers, dancing elves and waving Santas.

Nearly 24,000 carloads of people visited the display in 1994, when it was open 39 days and sometimes blanketed in snow.

Attendance dropped to fewer than 15,000 cars last month, when the display was open 29 days. Visitors most often braved rain - and sometimes freezing rain - rather than snow.

“A couple of times where we would have had big nights, we had bad weather,” said Roy Cheney, assistant maintenance superintendent at the golf course.

At $5 a carload, the display raised $71,675, compared to $114,529 the previous year.

The parks foundation cut back the hours and days in 1995 as a concession to neighbors. They also hired off-duty police officers to help residents weave through the traffic.

Neighbors said that helped.

“It’s a small inconvenience,” said neighbor Steven Greene. “You just have to plan a little more time.”

Organizers are meeting with show workers to get their opinions of why attendance fell, said Quinlivan. Later this winter, they’ll meet with course neighbors, whose complaints last year led to talk of moving the display in 1996.

Quinlivan said she hopes the display won’t have to move, particularly since organizers spent $11,000 in 1995 to wire the golf course for the display.

“We have some fact-gathering to do before we decide what we’re going to do next year,” she said.

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