Red Apple Farm gets a new twinkle with 70,000 lights. Here's how to see it.

Stephen Landry, Gardner News
·3 min read

PHILLIPSTON – A popular local apple orchard has been transformed into an electric winter wonderland for the holidays.

As one young visitor recently put it: “It’s like a maze of lights.”

The first annual Red Apple Farm “Winter Lights Winter Walk" invites visitors to stroll along a path illuminated by 70,000 colorful, sparkling lights that have been strung up to adorn trees, fences, and farm equipment. The path meanders through a pine grove, around a pond and out into the orchard.

Al Rose, who along with his wife, Nancy, has owned the farm for decades, said the idea for the winter wonderland was suggested by a friend, Lester Spear, who has done similar displays in Maine, but found himself in need of a new location after the land he had been using was sold.

The winter lights display at Red Apple Farm will be open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. most night through New Year’s Eve.
The winter lights display at Red Apple Farm will be open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. most night through New Year’s Eve.

“(Lester) came down here in the fall and said that if we ever wanted to do a winter light thing, (the Red Apple Farm) would be a perfect place, so we talked to Rick (Walton), our partner at the Brew Barn, and we all just fell in love with the idea,” Rose said.

The team agreed to set up the display at the Red Apple Farm annually for at least the next three years, according to Walton.

Rose said the light display was somewhat of a last-minute decision.

Thousands of lights have transformed everything at the Red Apple Farm into winter wonderland display.
Thousands of lights have transformed everything at the Red Apple Farm into winter wonderland display.

More:These New Englanders go crazy for holiday lights. Check out the displays.

“We would have liked to have had it ready for right after Thanksgiving, so we were a little behind schedule, but we all worked together and made it happen,” he said, adding that a team of six people worked nonstop for about two weeks to arrange tens of thousands of tiny lightbulbs throughout the farm. “It’s pretty impressive how far we’ve come since we had never done it before.”

Holiday music standards, old and new, play from speakers throughout the orchard, and visitors can warm themselves up by fires set up at various locations along the path. Santa Claus was manning one of the firepits and posing for photographs during a recent visit.

More:Red Apple Farm uses irrigation to keep apple picking season on track

But Walton said that while some of the decorations were Christmas-related, the goal of the display was to emphasize the winter season in New England.

“We just wanted to say ‘winter lights,’ because I’ve been reading a lot of books lately that are based in Quebec, Canada, and winter to them is like a season of this kind of thing, and Christmas has nothing to do with it,” Walton said.

Visitors take pictures of themselves at the Winter Lights display at the Red Apple Farm in Phillipston.
Visitors take pictures of themselves at the Winter Lights display at the Red Apple Farm in Phillipston.

How to see the winter lights at Red Apple Farm

The walking tour begins by a group of spruce trees that were planted as Christmas trees by Rose’s grandfather in the 1960s, Rose explained. “So, they’re having a second life,” he added. The path then takes visitors around the small pond and then out into the orchard.

“(This display) just really uses the natural farmland and puts a holiday spell on it, and I think it looks very festive and very wonderful," he said.

The reaction from visitors and neighbors so far has been positive, Rose said.

“People in the community seem excited to have something like this close by, and you don’t have to drive very far to see it," he said.

Over 70,000 lights displayed on more than four acres has transformed the Red Apple Farm in Phillipston into an electric winter wonderland.
Over 70,000 lights displayed on more than four acres has transformed the Red Apple Farm in Phillipston into an electric winter wonderland.

Walton said the display, which could include ice sculptures next year, is an event everyone in the family can enjoy.

“We have the Brew Barn, the Country Store, and Santa Claus for the kids,” Walton said.

Refreshments, including hot chocolate, cider, and snacks are available at the farm’s Brew Barn on most nights.

Winter Lights will be open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. most nights through New Year’s Eve. For tickets and availability, go to: Red Apple Farm Winter Lights.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Winter Lights Winter Walk set up at Red Apple Farm. What to know.