Branson Area Festival of Lights 2008 Options

BAFOL options explored (As Published June 28th Branson Daily News ) Link By Brandon Cone BDN Staff Writer bcone@bransondailynews.com Officials with the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce are looking for new ways to keep the Branson Area Festival of Lights alive in 2007. "Our options are becoming narrower and narrower as we head toward the season, but we don't want to have nothing," said Ross Summers, chamber president and CEO, at a chamber board of directors meeting Wednesday. Summers announced in March that the BAFOL committee would be looking for a new location for the Christmas lights 2.5-mile drive-through due to traffic and safety concerns and costs to put on the extended display at its traditional home at Branson Hills Parkway. In 2005, the drive-through took a one-year hiatus due to construction on the parkway. Chamber officials are opposed to canceling BAFOL again because they want to keep "the welcoming feeling" the display gives. "There's that first impression you get when arriving from the north if that segment is lit and welcoming you to an Ozark Mountain Christmas and Branson Area Festival of Lights," said Brad Thomas, chamber board president. "It's much different than two years ago when that section was dark." Summers said there are still some viable options for bringing the display back for an eleventh time since it was started in 1995. "We have discussed putting it up as a shortened version behind Target and Home Depot, beginning where we usually do and running it up to the corner there (at Branson Hills Parkway,)" Summers said. "It would be something where we would try to cram as many lights in there as we could. "We would not charge for that, but it would be a donation kind of thing. That's one of the options we've got, and we've got a couple other options we're looking at also." -- http://www.bransonedge.com http://www.bransonmissouri.blogspot.com