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Lighting of the Angels: A Student’s Perspective

By Elliott Shirk
 
The Lighting of the Angels is a special event for the people who live in Shenandoah. This annual event has taken place in the Shenandoah municipal building for over 25 years. At the beginning of the festival, an oversized light switch is flipped on and, one by one each of the big, beautiful angels, strategically placed around the small town of Shenandoah, lights up. 
 
Then, the rest of the night, up until 8 o’clock, you are free to walk around and visit any of the attractions there, which include camel rides, a petting zoo, pony rides (for children), ice sledding, photos with Santa, and so much more. My personal favorite is the bubble races, which are huge plastic bubbles that you climb into, and then you race your partner across the obstacle course like a hamster in a wheel. 
 
However, there are lots of other activities that you might be interested in like, arts and crafts and roasting marshmallows. One other thing, there are amazing photo opportunities, like photos with Santa, snowglobe pictures, or you might want to take a photo in front of one out of the many big, beautiful balloon arches. There are also concessions which might include hot chocolate, cookies, and a bag of chips which are free to eat or drink. If you have younger children this is the perfect event for them, and I promise they will love the train that picks up passengers from the parking lot and takes them to the festival entrance.
 
This is a great event to bring families together and just to have fun with friends, and the best part, it is completely free of charge. I always look forward to this spectacular festival that has taken place at the end of November every year since 1997.
 
Elliott is a contributing writer for the Shenandoah Sentinel and attends Ms. Janell Hill’s 7th grade class at Quest Collegiate Academy – Shenandoah.