A big thank you to the city of Maple Valley, City staff, Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation volunteers, and others who made this year’s holiday lights festival in Maple Valley such a great success. I came away form the event delighted by the opportunity to see large sections of Lake Wilderness Arboretum ablaze with lit trees and animal shapes, families taking pictures of the lit trains and loved ones in front of a polar bear bedecked by lights, and children sipping a hot cocoa while excitedly waiting to see Santa and take a ride on the train on a beautiful winter night.
I know the beautiful night was preceded by many cold, rainy hours spent by Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation volunteers and other groups going through light displays from previous years, adding to them, and placing them with the help of city’s recreation coordinator Mark Radcliff and the Public Works Department staff. A special thanks to those volunteers and the city staff who played a major role: foundation board member Fred Kreitzberg, who did most of the preliminary set up with the help of the Lake Wilderness Preservation Committee, Boy Scout Troop 517, and the Flaming Turtles Patrol. Thanks to foundation volunteer Marie Lindblom for the many hours spent working on the lights and artistically refining our displays; foundation volunteer and arboretum property manager Bob Wahlberg for making it all work; foundation volunteer Patty Davis for help with electrical set up; foundation board member Debbie Fuchs and her family for help with set up; foundation board member John Van Zanten for serving as our forest Santa; Lane Lindblom for serving as our forest elf.
A safe and happy holiday to all.
Cindy Ostermann
Acting president,
Lake Wilderness Arboretum Foundation
