700 cars turn out for Aycock holiday event

Dec. 9—HENDERSON

As darkness set in Tuesday evening and Christmas lights brightened the front lawn and driveway of Aycock Elementary School's campus, Carey Chapel Road started to look like the final scene of "Field of Dreams" when vehicles descended en masse on Ray Kinsella's magical baseball diamond in an Iowa cornfield.

"If you build it, they will come" was the mantra of the 1989 film.

Something similar happened Tuesday for Aycock's second annual Festival of Lights, which drew hundreds of cars, many filled with several passengers. A half hour or so into the two-hour event, vehicles lined Carey Chapel Road in either direction as far as the eye could see. By 6:45 p.m., they were still queued as far back as the Vicksboro Road intersection in the southerly direction.

"It's got to be at least triple [the number of vehicles from last year]," Aycock Elementary Principal Kristen Boyd said during the event. "It was big, but it wasn't this big."

The final car count ended up being 700 on Tuesday.

Last year, Aycock orchestrated the Festival of Lights in response to COVID-19. Normally, the school would have had something along the lines of a "The Polar Express"-themed assembly. But the students had been out of the classroom, learning virtually, prompting Aycock to improvise.

"I said, 'Well, we could bring them to us,' " Boyd said before gesturing to the front of the school. "Out there would be a great Candy Cane Land. And it went from there. To this."

"This" took a lot of work, and included illuminated Aycock interpretations of "The Polar Express," Candy Cane Lane, Gingerbread Village, Winter Wonderland, and Who-ville.

The Festival of Lights was open to the public, although donations, that will go back to the school, were accepted this year.

Craig Compton, whose wife Sherry is an Aycock teacher, is credited for the technical aspects of the lighting.

Boyd asked Compton Tuesday if he was proud of his hard work, eliciting an emotional response.

"What's in those cars is worth every second of it," Compton said. "The children."

A major part of the fun last year was those children being able to see their teachers in person after extended time apart. And though in-school learning has returned, the Aycock teachers still lined the sidewalks Tuesday to greet their students, who shouted and waved from automobile windows.

Last year, the crowd was comprised of mostly Aycock students and their families. Tuesday was a different story. Former students showed up. So did older folks, and apparently a whole lot of others.

The number of volunteers working on the project also increased from last year. They started piecing together the sections of the tour on Friday and worked all weekend to finish in time. Even the Aycock students pitched in on creating some of the scenery and Boyd said Lowe's of Henderson helped mitigate the cost of materials.

"This year it was a school, team effort," Boyd said. "Kids, parents, everybody."

Christmas music from loudspeakers and an a cappella Aycock choir added to the holiday ambiance, and Aycock student Maddison Moss as Elsa from "Frozen" was a big hit in Winter Wonderland. Some of the other cast of characters included teachers Lindsey Breedlove as The Grinch, Erin Riggan as Cindy Lou Who, Susan Fletcher as The Elf on the Shelf and Eva Jennings as a gingerbread person.

"It brings us a lot of joy because I feel like we're giving back to the community," Boyd said. "And seeing the kids smiling, but also the adults — our elderly community that lives out here and can't get out much. I've seen a lot of people that are older coming through and saying, 'Thank you for doing this.'

"It's for everybody."