Holiday light show helps Cashmere students earn service hours

WENATCHEE — What started as a holiday light show has quietly become something more for Cashmere students: a place to meet a graduation requirement on their own schedule.

During a presentation to the Chelan-Douglas Regional Port Authority on March 24, Nelson Family Lights founder Nick Nelson described how a new partnership with Cashmere High School allowed students to earn community service hours by helping operate the seasonal display.

Cashmere students are required to complete 24 hours of community service to graduate. Nelson said more than 25 students participated at the light show this past season, with several completing all of their required hours there.

The opportunity came together through a connection with the City of Cashmere’s Director of Operations Steve Croci, who helped link Nelson with the school.

Students assisted with setup, teardown and nightly operations, working shifts that ran outside the traditional school day.

“That was really helpful for them,” Nelson said, noting that most volunteer opportunities are limited to daytime hours, when kids are in school. “We operate nights and weekends.”

For some students, the experience also served as an introduction to an event they had never attended before.

Nelson said a number of participants were unfamiliar with the light show when they first signed up, but became interested not only in helping run it, but in understanding how it works behind the scenes.

The program also helped support the rapid growth of the display, which relocated to Cashmere this past holiday season after previously operating at Annie’s Fun Farm in East Wenatchee, and at Nelson’s home before that.

Nelson estimated more than 2,600 vehicles visited the Christmas show over its 38-day run, with total attendance likely exceeding 10,000 people when accounting for passengers per vehicle. He said the show would have been difficult to operate at that scale without student support.

For Nelson, who runs the display largely on his own alongside a full-time job, the added help made a difference.

For students, it offered something just as valuable: a flexible way to meet a requirement that can otherwise be difficult to complete during the school year.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media