Ronan hopes to light up the sky with light expedition

For the community of Ronan to makes its inaugural “Lights Under The Big Sky” festival and light expedition come to fruition at the Lake County Fairgrounds in Ronan, it took meticulous planning.

According to project manager Sjaan Vincent, the project has become an instant success.

“We are not attempting the project, we are doing it,” Vincent said. “This is the first year it has been in the making and it was a huge collaboration Valley-wide, county-wide, reservation-wide and then some. We had a tremendous amount of collaboration and support.”

The festival and light show opened its door on Dec. 1 at the Ronan Fairgrounds and will run their light expedition and festivities through Dec. 17.

Vincent said the festival will focus on events that are family-oriented. It includes several activities for the kids of Ronan and the valley to do.

“(The activities) are just incredibly fun for the kids,” Vincent said. “We have multiple games. We hope that every kid in Lake County gets a chance to tour through here and participate in something fun and exciting at Christmastime.”

Some of the highlighted activities include kids’ crafts, cookie decorating and ornament making.

In the early portion of Ronan’s new event, Vincent estimated that more than 200 kids attended the events towards the conclusion of the first weekend of the festival.

According to Vincent, the launch of the festival was a “special moment” for her and her team.

“(The launch of the event) was so special for our team and the people,” Vincent said. “All of our sponsors have been incredibly supportive. We just have a wide range of organizations that have come together to produce this event and it has been pretty incredible.”

Vincent said the reaction from the audience of the lighting fixtures and the festival is “sheer amazement.”

“Most people (familiar with Ronan) that have known the fairgrounds for the last 75 years have associated (the fairgrounds) with sheep, pigs and cows but now it is a winter wonderland of lights,” Vincent said. “It is such a transformation and I think they’ve just been amazed. Our Santas are fabulous and our kids are enjoying that.”

Initially, when this project was created one of the primary mission statements of this festival was to create more continuity within the Ronan community.

“The activities are an important part and we wanted to do a little bit more and bring our communities together,” Vincent said. “Its been awesome to work with so many organizations that we never had the opportunity to work with and it’s been an incredible experience.”

When Vincent and several other organizations formulated a plan that’s been over a year in the making, they wanted to create a “fun spot.”

“Our idea is to create this fun spot and everyone comes together,” Vincent said.

Scheduling information is available at The Mission Valley Presents “Lights Under the Big Sky” Facebook page.