More than a dozen retirees known around Middletown as the Grandpa Gang are back at Smith Park this fall, checking strands of lights and hauling animated displays into place for another season of Light Up Middletown. The volunteers started stringing lights in late September, working their way along a mile of winding road that cuts through the park ahead of the free holiday drive-through's return the day after Thanksgiving.
Volunteer Bill Becker described the daily grind to FOX19, saying the crew checks the lights, installs displays, and keeps everything running through the Christmas holidays. Becker said the goal is simple: welcome visitors of all ages and help them start the Christmas season happily. This year's display will include more than 60 major displays, most of them animated, plus a new addition in the sports section showing Santa Claus dunking a basketball.
A Free Tradition Rooted in One Volunteer's Vision
Light Up Middletown charges no admission, though visitors may leave a donation as they drive through. The event traces back to 1999, when retired Middletown High School secretary Florella “Flo” Randall started the display with just six or seven light setups in Smith Park, according to Wilson-Schramm-Spaulding Funeral Home. Randall, who spent 29 years in the Middletown High School athletic department and led the display for more than two decades, died on December 1, 2023, at age 91, the funeral home's obituary notes, adding that she received multiple civic awards for her work organizing the annual event.
What began as a handful of light setups has since grown into a regional attraction spread across all 96 acres of Smith Park, land the City of Middletown acquired in December 1940 for $16,000 from the A.D. and William Smith farm, per records in the MidPointe Digital Archives. The site previously housed a farm and brickyard before becoming a municipal recreation site. By 2012, the display was drawing crowds from well beyond Middletown, with the city reporting 64,839 visitors across 18,612 cars and 93 tour buses over a 38-night run, according to figures from the City of Middletown.
Police Boats, Beavers, and a Steelmaker's Crew
Setting up a display this size takes more than retirees with ladders. The Middletown Police Water Rescue Team partners with the Grandpa Gang every year to tow animated lighted swan displays into the middle of Smith Park's fishing pond, using rescue boats to anchor cables across the water, according to MiddletownUSA.com. Organizers had to switch from rope anchors to heavy metal cables years ago after resident beavers in the pond kept chewing through the ropes, the same report notes.
Employees from steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs, Middletown's largest industrial employer, also volunteer alongside the Grandpa Gang each fall, helping string over one million lights in the park's trees and move heavy displays into position, according to Light Up Middletown. The organization notes that Cleveland-Cliffs has also donated its own custom light display to the show. Local restaurants pitch in too, donating food vouchers so the Grandpa Gang can eat lunch together during their fall work sessions, a gesture that reflects how much the drive-through boosts downtown holiday dining traffic, per reporting from WCPO 9 News.
Donations Fund Real Upgrades to the Park
Because Light Up Middletown runs on voluntary donations rather than ticket sales, the money collected each winter has gone straight back into Smith Park itself. Admission donations have funded road repaving throughout the park, electrical system upgrades, and installation of a Kompan Fitness Zone along the walking trail, according to records from the City of Middletown. Organizers describe it as a cycle where event revenue is reinvested directly into public parks and local causes.
The park also hosts a secondary draw each December: Light Up Middletown collaborates with the Ohio Challenge to stage a winter Balloon Glow evening, when hot air balloons illuminate the grounds alongside the driving display, according to Ohio Traveler. That single-night event typically draws some of the season's biggest crowds. This year's display, including the new slam-dunking Santa in the sports section, runs nightly from the day after Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve, from 6 to 10 p.m., as the Grandpa Gang works through October and November to get Smith Park ready.
