Light up the Hills will be going dark in Acton this year.
The organization says it's made the difficult decision to not put up a display in Acton due to a lack of volunteers in the town. Acton was added as Light up the Hills’ third location in 2011 with a display in the Acton Sports Park by the arena.
Light up the Hills volunteer coordinator Michele Cameron said Acton’s park coordinator has moved out of town and its volunteer base had dwindled to the point where he had been looking after the display almost on his own.
“When COVID hit, our volunteer force dropped by 50 per cent,” Cameron said. “A lot of volunteers were aging, some moved away. It’s been slowly coming back, but we’re still not even to where we were in 2019.”
Last year, Light up the Hills volunteers in Georgetown pulled double duty and helped set up, monitor and maintain the Acton display, hoping the volunteer base would grow in Acton. Appeals were made for volunteers throughout the year on Facebook, through Light Up the Hills’ page and the Acton Tell & Sell.
Cameron said 11 people replied, she messaged each of them back, but only one person from that group came out to their meeting. They had hoped to get interest from volunteers in Acton who could come to the Georgetown or Glen Williams set up and observe.
“We really wanted to get a crew in Acton,” Cameron said, “but you really need a dedicated group to come and learn how it’s done.”
With the volunteer base in Georgetown and Glen Williams already stretched thin, they couldn’t maintain the Acton site again, so Cameron said the difficult decision was made to not put up a display.
Sponsorship dollars have also been hard to come by. Of the $22,000 raised by Light Up the Hills this year, Cameron said only $500 has come from Acton. According to the Light up the Hills website, it takes about $7,000 to sustain the Acton display.
“Everybody loves the lights,” Cameron said. “We really wish we could have done Acton this year.”
In future years, once there's a group that knows how to set up the display in Acton, Cameron said it would take two mornings to do so and an equal amount of time to take it down. They would then need someone to do a park patrol each night to ensure all the lights are working.
“We would really like to bring Acton back next year,” she said.
Light up the Hills organizers are looking for Acton volunteers now for next year to maintain the park and assist with Acton community fundraising. Anyone interested should email [email protected].
