NEWTON, Iowa — Tucked inside Newton's Maytag Park, you'll find more than 100,000 Christmas lights twinkling each night this holiday season.
What you see is festive fun, but what you don't necessarily see is the work Newton employees put in to make it happen.
Jamie Murphy, the Assistant Superintendent of Park Operations for the City of Newton, is the mind behind the magic. She and her team spend weeks preparing the park.
They started working on the lights in early November, but testing the lights indoors happens even earlier in the year.
"I mean, there's a lot of hours for those of us who work out here. I'd hate to guess how many hours we have total," Murphy said.
Every strand, high above and down below, is placed carefully to make the Maytag Park lights perfect.
“I love Christmas. I love the lights. I love designing it. I love coming up with where I’m going to put things," Murphy added. “It just is a really big passion of mine that goes beyond just my job.”
2023 is the sixth year for the park's lights. There will be more than 250 displays to drive through from dusk to 10 p.m. every night until Jan. 1, 2024.
The best part? it's totally free!
The Maytag Park Holiday Lights display is sponsored by a number of organizations, including Clemon-Maki Insurance.
If you're in the holiday spirit and have Christmas lights of your own to show off, be sure to enter "Brandon's Battle of the Bulbs" holiday lights contest before Friday, Dec. 15!