What goes into stringing 18 miles of lights? The folks who set up Sar-Ko Aglow know

Putting up a community lighting like Sar-Ko Aglow is a lot like installing any holiday display.

Sometimes the lights from the year before no longer work. It takes a lot less time to take down the lights than put them up. And when everything is done for the year, the lights are stored away in totes.

Yeah, Sar-Ko Aglow is like everyone’s holiday display — except so much bigger.

It’s a safe bet that no home has 18 miles of lights and 90,000 bulbs. Sar-Ko Aglow — at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park at West 87th Street Parkway and Lackman Road in Lenexa — is one of several large public holiday displays lit this season throughout Johnson County.

Before Sar-Ko Aglow, the city’s parks staff lit street poles in Old Town Lenexa. Then lights were added to the old railroad depot, community center and shops.

But eventually, the event began to outgrow Old Town. In the early 2000s, a lighting display landed in Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park.

“The first displays were humble, with lights adorning a few buildings on the west side of Rose’s Pond,” said Marisa Shartzer, recreation superintendent in Lenexa.

“At the time, it wasn’t advertised as Sar-Ko Aglow but simply as holiday lights in the park. With early support from sponsors like Westlake Hardware, which donated lights, the lights continued to grow.

“Eventually the lights morphed into what we know today as Sar-Ko Aglow in 2013 with the lighting ceremony held the first Friday of December.”

Setting up the lights has always been the task of Lenexa’s parks division. They begin Oct. 1 .

“You can even see some of the lights during our annual Enchanted Forest Festival in October,” Shartzer said. “The staff often end up working seven days a week to meet the deadline, all while navigating the weather and their regular duties. Use of lift trucks is very essential to getting all the lights up and to the very top of the trees.“

Incremental changes and additions occur every year, guided by Lenexa Parks Supervisor Jeff Carlson.

Some of the changes involve the transition to LED lights. Currently, 90% to 95% of Sar-Ko Aglow lights are LED. Larger trees have custom lighting.

“What is unique is that Jeff allows staff the creativity to use whatever color bulb, string them in whatever style they would like, to allow a unique display each year,” Shartzer said.

Like any large-scale project, Sar-Ko Aglow has had its share of challenges and classic holiday decoration mishaps.

“Like strands of lights refusing to work or squirrels gnawing though the strings,” Carlson said, adding that weather has caused problems on occassion.

But nearly every day of the event, which runs through Marin Luther King Jr. Day, the lights are on and the crowds are happy.

“Over 30,000 visitors pass through our pedestrian counter each year to see the lights” Shartzer said

“Many appreciate the opportunity to stroll through the park after the hustle and bustle of the holidays, savoring the peaceful ambiance of the warm glow on crisp winter nights.”

Take down takes about a week to 10 days.

Carlson said the event has come far from it’s a small, unpublicized project. And, he added, it’s always meaningful to listen to those looking at the lights.

“You can often hear the visitors walking around the park talking about their favorite tree and why.”