Spirit of Springfield reflects on Bright Nights, 2022 season

Date: 1/10/2023

SPRINGFIELD – The event-based community organization Spirit of Springfield enjoyed another prosperous year with its series of seminal gatherings, including Bright Nights and the World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast.

Since its creation in 1995, Bright Nights continues to serve as one of Spirit of Springfield’s biggest draws. The winter light display is featured nightly across Forest Park in December, including fixtures that pay tribute to community organizations, the creations from local author Dr. Seuss, and the festive holiday season. The latest Bright Nights ran from Nov. 23, 2022, to Jan. 1.

Spirit of Springfield President Judy Matt said this year’s participation was “almost on par” with last year, getting within $10,000 of last year’s financial intake. The similar results occurred despite numerous difficulties caused by challenging weather conditions.

“We had probably the most rain in all the years I can recall,” said Matt in an interview with Reminder Publishing.

Several key Bright Nights days, such as Public Safety Night, had to be postponed due to strong gusts of wind and nonstop rain. Matt shared that this year was the first that Bright Nights had to cancel an evening due to rain and wind conditions. The night was later moved from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7, 2022.

Another night before the Christmas holiday was canceled due to a power outage that occurred within Forest Park.

“The wind came down on a line, which caused an explosion in one of the transformers. That put the lights out totally from the first half of the park to all the way down the hill … It was a disappointing night because Santa was supposed to be there,” said Matt.

Despite the uncontrollable setbacks, Matt said she was encouraged to see Bright Nights draw a similar crowd compared to 2021.

“All in all, I think we did very well, almost exactly as well as last year,” said Matt.

Matt also reflected on the various Spirit of Springfield gatherings that occurred in 2022. Several key celebrations, such as the World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast, returned to a sense of normalcy two years removed from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.

“It was one of the best years yet. The Pancake Breakfast was just a huge turnout, it was so nice seeing people coming down again. People said they could feel it in the air,” said Matt.

Spirit of Springfield’s annual fundraising gala, the Bright Nights Ball, also enjoyed a noticeable jump in engagement. Matt said 2021 featured 345 attendants before rising to 512 for this year – a new attendance record for the gala.

“We had to turn away almost 40 guests,” said Matt.

Matt shared that the noticeable increases in engagement showed the community’s renewed excitement towards gathering for community events.

“People want to get back together again, they aren’t fearful of gathering,” said Matt.

2022 also marked a year of recognition for Matt. She received a “Service Above Self” award in December for the positive contributions Spirit of Springfield leaves in the community.

Matt said the award was a genuine surprise as she discovered the announcement when watching TV news in the morning.

“I was shocked and overwhelmed. It was really very nice, but my remarks focused on the people in the audience, because if it wasn’t for them, I couldn’t do my work … Nobody can do anything like what we do without great community support,” said Matt.

Readers can learn more about Spirit of Springfield at https://www.spiritofspringfield.org/.