The numbers are in for the 2021 Trail of Lights and City of Great Bend officials are pleased with the outcome.

“Overall, it was great,” said Christina Hayes, Community Coordinator/Convention and Visitors Bureau director, speaking to the City Council Monday night. The trail is a massive annual undertaking involving city personnel who start installing the myriad displays starting before Thanksgiving, volunteers who man the Brit Spaugh Park trail head, and Hayes, who helps coordinate the activities.

“I started collecting this data in 2011,” Hayes said. Volunteers man a booth at the Brit Spaugh Park trail head most evenings during the day between the Home for the Holidays Festival on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Christmas. They track car tag information.

From Nov. 27 through Dec. 22, there were 2,159 cars recorded. There were a few days where nobody worked because of the Dec. 15 windstorm and there were a couple days where greeters canceled due to COVID.  

Looking back to 2011, the highest total was 3,544 in 2012. There were 1,917 in 2019 and 2,440 in 2020. 

“The same counties were the top counties that came through as last year, so that’s not any different there,” she said. “But the top states are interesting to me this year.”

Kansas remained number one with 1,854 cars, but Texas, in the top five last year, moved up to number two with 19. And, Arizona made its first appearance in the top states in fifth place with six vehicles. 

“If you look, there were lots of different states,” she said. Pennsylvania made its first showing.

The volunteers take donations as well. “And it does make a big difference,” she said. 

“This year, $4,645.24 was collected,” she said. This goes toward the city’s light fund to help replace things that have been broken or to create new displays for the future.

In 2019, $3,569 was collected, and in 2020, $4,900 was gathered.

New this year was a traffic counter that operated through the season. It counted 5,138 vehicles. 

“What was most interesting to me, using the counter, is that during the 5 p.m. timeframe is when most people go through.”

In the past, volunteers worked the booth from 6-8 p.m. They may adjust that to 5:30-7:30 p.m. to capture more cars and gather more data. 

Hayes also thanked the Great Bend Police and Fire Departments for their new lighted displays this past season. Also, there are plans to expand the displays next year.

There were plenty of thank yous to go around, too. Hayes said she appreciated all the departments that came together to make the trail happen.

In addition, the Public Lands Department was responsible for installing the animated displays for the first time. In the past, the city had contracted with a private company to do this.

And, the Golden Belt Community Foundation donated $2,000 to repair lights damaged during the windstorm.