Minot Holiday Festivities | Video

Amy Fox | 11/23/2012

All of the lights have been hung. The presents are wrapped. Now, the waiting begins.

"You get a bunch of oooo’s and ahhh’s when the lights do actually go on," said Downtown Business Professional Association President Bonny Kemper.

The holiday season officially starts Friday in downtown Minot with the annual downtown open house and holiday lighting ceremony.

As Kemper explains, "We want to showcase the downtown, which is the heart of Minot."

And the festivities continue throughout the city.

"Oak Park and Christmas in the Park has been such a part of Minot for so many years and part of Sertoma that it just feels good to be back in the park," said Minot Sertoma Club Chairman Richard Berg.

All of the displays are in place at Oak Park, but it takes a lot of hard work before they`re all lit up.

"We took all of the displays out, looked at what was really damaged,” said Berg. "We have a lot of computer boxes that do the animation and those have been reworked if they needed it. Miraculously, most of the electronics made it through the flood as long as we let them dry out, which maybe shouldn`t be surprising because there are outdoor lights and used to getting wet."

The Sertoma Club is looking forward to once again lighting up one of their brightest displays.

"One of our premiere displays is the penguin village and that`s kind of towards the end and it has lots of igloos and penguins,” said Berg.

Many hope the lights will continue to shine for years to come.

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