FLORENCE — Throughout the week, volunteers have worked to transform Look Memorial Park into a winter wonderland for this year’s Santa’s Trains event that kicks off Friday.
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be at the Garden House at Look Memorial Park, which is decorated as a Victorian-style train station with model trains moving by displays and village landscapes.
The event is free and will be open daily from 4 to 8 p.m. starting Friday through Dec. 23, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
For $5, people can hop aboard the Look Holiday Express, a 1-mile hayride around the park, and view the more than 50 holiday light displays.
Greg Malynoski, Look Park’s director of development, said 25 volunteers have been setting up and decorating since Sunday. This year’s theme is “Santa’s Favorite Things” and will have a variety of new lighted buildings in all three of the model train village displays, and more holiday trees, adding up to a total of 30.
Each evening features a special guest conductor and station master from the community greeting visitors. They’ll be joined by Santa’s helpers.
“This is our seventh year,” Maynoski said in an email. “We expect over 12,000 visitors over the course of the event.”