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[1995]-
The start, fixed by counting: No founding announcement for the Fantasy of Lights was found; its first season is fixed by the event's own season counts, which are consistent: the Waynedale News called 2021 the event's 27th year and 2023 its 29th season, and the arithmetic puts the first season in 1995, the same autumn Science Central opened across town. The bracket is printed because that is what the evidence is: [1995, by the season counts]. What began then was a drive-through Christmas display in Franke Park, the city's children's park since 1921, built under the AWS Foundation, the foundation of Anthony Wayne Services.
The transfer: In 2015 the AWS Foundation passed the event to Blue Jacket Inc., the Fort Wayne nonprofit that trains people with employment barriers, and Blue Jacket's Academy graduates took over a production its operators describe as a seven-month endeavor of setup, teardown and maintenance. Under Blue Jacket the display nearly tripled in size and scope by its own account: over 166 scenes made of more than 550 pieces in 2023, over 165 displays and 1.5 million LED bulbs on a two-mile path in the power company's account of the same season, 186 displays and over 700 pieces on a three-mile loop in 2024, the figures printed dated rather than merged, because a light show's size is a claim each season makes anew. Santa's Christmas Village at the Pond Pavilion completes the modern form: the car slows, the children press to the glass, and the park the biscuit man gave the city in 1921 does its second century's Christmas work.
Sources:
- Waynedale News, Fantasy of Lights accounts, January 2022 and November 2023 (the 27th year and 29th season counts; Blue Jacket's operation since 2015 and the adoption from the AWS Foundation; the 166 scenes and 550 pieces of 2023; the seven-month production).
- Indiana Michigan Power, community events account, 2023 (the two-mile path; over 165 displays; 1.5 million LED bulbs).
- Whatzup, Fantasy of Lights preview, 2024 (186 displays, more than 700 pieces, the 3-mile loop).