Putting lights up in Sportsman’s Park is now a decade old tradition, having first been done in 2014 when Sleepy Eye Holiday Lights was founded. Co-founder Mike Suess said the idea for the event came when co-founder Shari Hittesdorf was doing a story on the Christmas decorations Seuss had done for his house. The two then brainstormed on how to bring this to the larger Sleepy Eye community.

The crew of volunteers and organization members finished their third weekend of work Sunday. After the next two weeks, the lights will officially turn on Thanksgiving night. Suess said they’re currently at the halfway mark, with more of the higher work yet to be done.

“We started on the bottom,” he said. “The first weekend we do all the trunks. We start with the smallest trees in the park. We’re getting into the smaller medium trees now this weekend and they’ll get larger and larger into the last weekends. The reason is the wind wrecks the lights. The longer the lights are in the trees, the more likely they are to get wrapped by the wind.”

The project has been expanding year after year. After 360,000 lights were used in 2021, Seuss said they have expanded to using around half a million lights to cover over 115 trees. A new program instituted this year will help to cut down slightly on their workload thanks to local businesses.

Sleepy Eye Holiday Lights co-founder Mike Seuss (left cab), Loran Ludewig and Cory Heiderscheidt (middle cab), and Justin Hendricksen with Al Felber (right cab) coordinate to wrap a string of lights around a tree in Sportsman’s Park. Seuss said the hardest part is finding volunteers willing to go high up in the cabs.

“[Some] trees around the bike trail are sponsored by businesses,” Seuss said. “It takes a little bit of work off of our plate. The businesses are happy to come out and decorate them. We supply our lights and the rental lift, we would help ourselves if we need to. See how much work they can take off our plate.”

Finding enough volunteers to cover all of the work was identified by Seuss as the biggest challenge. While ground workers are in good supply, it’s those willing to go up in the air Sleepy Eye Holiday Lights lack.

“Unfortunately, the labor for this is 70% up in the air,” Seuss said. “90% of our help wants to stay on the ground. They’re not comfortable going up.”

Seuss said the lift system they use is completely safe. Several safety measures are used inside and outside the truck to ensure everything is stable. Inside the lift cabs on the truck, harnesses keep volunteers secure and focused.

Cory, Ashley, and Owen Rasche did their part as members of the ground crew Sunday. Their work consisted of tying strings of lights around tree trunks and using a staple gun to keep the lights in place. Ashley Rasche said this is the first time they have volunteered together for the lights.

“Owen’s older brother got involved last year,” she said. “He was the one who invited us out here this year.”

Owen Rasche said the experience is valuable for him, as it helps him build service hours for his confirmation Ashley Rasche said the family is glad they can help beautify the community as the Christmas season gets closer.

“It helps us get in the Christmas spirit,” she said. “It’s a beautiful day. It’s nice to help out and be a part of the Christmas spirit.”

After the lights start Thanksgiving night, they’ll be on 5-10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5-11 Friday and Saturday. On Christmas Eve and Christmas night, they’ll keep them on until midnight or later depending on attendance.

Sleepy Eye Holiday Lights is still looking for volunteers in several areas. People willing to put Christmas lights in trees up high are in high need for the next two weekends. They are also looking for companies in New Ulm or the surrounding area that have trucks with high-lift cabs. Seuss said as the event expands, they’ll need to rent out more equipment now and in the future.

To volunteer or find more information, visit http://www.sleepyeyeonline.com/holidaylights/.