ARLINGTON (1080 KRLD) - The Arlington Interlochen Lights run through Christmas, drawing hundreds of cars to the neighborhood every night. The Interlochen Lights were started 47 years ago.
"The best part is when you see who's in the car," says organizer Ralph Sobel. "You see, on a nice night, a young couple in a convertible on a date. You see a minivan with three generations of a family. You have so many people who say, 'I saw your house 25 years ago with my parents, and now this year, I'm getting to take my kids to see your house and show them what I enjoyed as a kid.'"
Sobel has lived in Interlochen 27 years. He says one of the developers of the neighborhood, Carol Findlay, died earlier this year.
"She was the actual inventor of the Interlochen Lights back in a time, 1976, when very few neighborhoods did anything like this, when this kind of decor was not all over the place," Sobel says. "She came up with the idea, and it stood out. It gave character to the neighborhood, and it's amazing that 47 years later, it's such an important tradition for so many people."
Sobel says he is meeting regularly with Arlington Police, and the lights are continuing as scheduled despite cold weather forecast starting Thursday. He says they will continue meeting and could change their schedule if Oncor asks for power conservation or if it gets too cold for police to spend hours directing traffic.
"The Arlington Police are so professional. They run it so well. They have contingency plans if, heaven forbid, the weather goes bad, or there's a fire or another emergency," he says. "One of our worries this year is actually for their own health and safety over the next couple of nights."
Any changes to Interlochen's schedule will be posted on Facebook. Arlington Police have tips for people who will be lining up here.
Sobel, who is Jewish, says many people set out religious displays, but he says Interlochen has grown to a celebration of different cultures that make up America. He has Christmas lights on his house, displays of Santa and his elves and also a Menorah and even a Festivus pole.
"There are a lot of religious, beautiful manger scenes and nativity scenes, but you don't have to be religious to participate," Sobel says.
He says a group of international students from UT-Arlington has come through Interlochen the past two years. He says members of the group are not Christian and do not go home over the break.
"For them, it's an exciting cultural thing. They don't have anything like this at home," he says.
About 200 homes in the neighborhood are participating. Sobel says he and his neighbors compare notes so they do not have similar displays.
"If my neighbor's doing a Snoopy theme, I'd better do a Mickey theme. I better not do Snoopy next to Snoopy, so people look and see what's around and try to make an overall picture rather than outdo the person next to them," he says, but he cautions. "I will say none of us stop shopping until we see what our neighbors have done."
Sobel says the lights draw crowds, but they have also drawn the neighborhood closer together, too.
"For our first Christmas, it got us to meet so many neighbors because they were all on ladders like we were, they were all fumbling with lights like we were, they were all asking questions like we were," he says. "It broke the ice in a way a lot of other neighborhoods don't have a way to break the ice. It made us feel at home way quicker than we expected when we moved to Texas."
Interlochen Lights run from 6 to 11 pm each night through Christmas.
Sobel says Christmas Eve and Christmas night will be the busiest. Arlington Police set out message boards with instructions on how to get into the neighborhood. Sobel says weeknights are typically less busy.
"The people who visit are so amazing with their patience, with their gratitude," he says. "When they slow down, they lower the window, they yell, 'Merry Christmas,' they say, 'Thank you for doing this.' It makes all the time and effort and our electric bills worthwhile."
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