Elegant Illusions Christmas Drive Through Park is a new Christmas lighting display at the Portage County Randolph Fairgrounds. Tom and I recently picked up Mom and Dad and headed out for the adventure of the lights. I am always looking for new drive-through displays because Dad isn’t able to walk around. By finding a drive-through display we can all enjoy the lights together.
We started off our adventure by joining my sister Julia and brother-in-law Mike at Hartville Kitchen for supper. We went early because we wanted to get to the lights soon after they opened and because Hartville Kitchen gets crowded around 6.
Hartville Kitchen is a huge restaurant and food gift shop and it seems like it is bigger every time we go. The set-up and menu are similar to the seven Der Dutchman restaurants, but Hartville Kitchen is even busier. I ate there a lot when we lived in Akron. The restaurant was already very busy at 5 p.m. We all ordered from the extensive menu and enjoyed the fresh rolls while we waited for our food. Because it was a cold night, most of us ordered some kind of comfort food, like macaroni and cheese and a sandwich.
Dad was so eager for dessert that he ordered it when he ordered his food. Hartville Kitchen has special dessert servers, so you order your regular meal and then a dessert server comes around for your dessert order. Dad got apple pie, Julia ordered a sugar-free cherry pie, Mike got vanilla peanut butter cream pie, and Tom and I shared a hot fudge brownie sundae. The sundae was one of the best desserts I have had in a long time. Mom said the next time we went there, she was just ordering a brownie sundae instead of other food.
After our delicious dinner, we all piled into Mom and Dad’s minivan for the drive to the Portage County fairgrounds. This is the first year that Elegant Illusions has been at the Portage County Randolph Fairgrounds. We expected a line going in, but there wasn’t any line and we felt like we practically had the whole place to ourselves. Which was nice because we took our time and drove really slowly through the areas we liked best.
Elegant Illusions had all new LED displays, the latest in animatronics and over 50 holiday scenes. We enjoyed all the displays. Some were fun and some were dazzlingly beautiful. We were especially impressed by the meticulously wrapped trees. It was especially wonderful because there was an inch of snow on the ground and snow reflected the lights. Here are a few pictures, which don’t do the incredible display justice.
Elegant Illusions Christmas Drive Through Park will be open Thursday through Sunday from 6 to 9 p.m. through December 29, so you still have time to go see it. The cost is $20 per vehicle.
It was a fun evening of adventure and enjoying the beautiful lights. Good food and time with family. A wonderful gift to get us in the Christmas spirit.