Anyone who knows Lane Wetherington knows that the man loves few things more than Christmas. And, when someone loves Christmas, they tend to buy many decorations.
What separates Wetherington from the rest of the pack is that he’s been buying a lot of decorations for the past 30 years. It’s a necessity since he’s the founder and host of the annual Christmas Lane display, a winter wonderland of lights, holiday displays and entertainment that visitors can walk through.
And when one buys a lot of decorations every year for three decades, they eventually run out of room. In Wetherington’s case, that calls for a move to the Florida Strawberry Festival grounds from his property in Dover.
“It’s been a big jump and a big milestone for Christmas Lane,” Wetherington said. “It’s going to expand, for a lot of people, the experience.”
The idea came after the 2014 event, and it was further justified by Wetherington’s desire to have more parking spaces, food options and community visibility. In March, after the 2015 Strawberry Festival, he went to management with the idea.
“We met with management and staff, and they formed a committee,” Wetherington said. “We all came to terms of agreement. They wanted to bring Christmas Lane to the festival grounds, and because it’s such a community-interactive event. It’s a great partnership with our festival and community.”
Negotiations carried on until the middle of summer and, as soon as both sides reached an agreement, Wetherington and his crew began the moving process. Because of the amount of displays and decorations he’s accrued, the move took until November to complete.
“You’ve got 30 years of displays in a warehouse, and to try and pack all of that up and determine what you need, and how to transport it, now you have to take it six miles,” he said. “It’s a bit of a challenge.”
Perhaps Wetherington’s favorite benefit of the move is that the festival grounds give him an enormous amount of space to work with, as well as some versatility. He’s added several new scenes to the display and constructed a “grand entrance,” the details of which he kept under wraps until opening night. Several of the scenes and arrangements are indoors, which Wetherington wasn’t able to do in Dover.
He has also added new concessions to the mix, such as nachos, French fries and cheese fries.
As always, Christmas Lane is open to the public seven nights a week and offers low prices for family-friendly entertainment. For more information, visit ChristmasLane.com. For an entertainment schedule visit PlantCityObserver.com.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.