Despite having lines of vehicles that wrap around Railroad Street to Garfield Avenue in Duluth, founder Nathan Bentley said food and toy donations for the Salvation Army are down.
“They’re just not there,” Bentley said. “I don’t know the best way to encourage guests to remember them. We’d hope that people would stop at even a local convenience store or supermarket or a local toy store for the families that are less fortunate.”
Bentley said he’d appreciate people remembering to bring donations as “there’s a greater need this year than probably ever before.”
The turnout for the light display has been fairly significant. Bentley said they’ve seen more vehicles coming on weeknights, which has helped with the volume on weekend nights.
“Which in one sense is a good thing because the locals are especially coming on the weekdays, which we’ve been encouraging them to do,” Bentley said. “It’s good that people are listening. Now we need them to spread out the times that people come.”
High numbers of vehicles coming at the same time has prompted Bentleyville to have to turn people away two Saturdays so far.
Bentleyville founder Nathan Bentley installs lights atop an information sign in 2019. (File / News Tribune)
“So many people come at the exact same moment and we just run out of room,” Bentley said. “So we’ve had to turn people away, but we did tell them, come back in 20 minutes, 30 minutes or 40 minutes as we’ll be able to move more of these folks through.”
The problem is room in the staging area. There’s a limited amount of space for vehicles to idle in line.
“So, if we can get people to think ‘Oh, maybe I should come at 8 p.m. versus 5 p.m.,’ when every other car is thinking the same thing,” Bentley said.
Going to Bentleyville around 8 p.m. is also recommended for visitors who do not have children who need to see Santa Claus, Bentley said.
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Nevertheless, visitors should expect to wait for an hour or two depending on the night. But Bentley said he’s seen visitors use the wait time to bond as a family.
“They’re bringing snacks and movies and games and using it as family time,” he said. “You’re not seeing kids just on their iPads, but coloring and playing card games. That’s something great to see.”
Some visitors have gone as far as decorating the outside or inside of their cars as they drive through.
“That’s been a lot of fun to see. It’s nice to see people really getting into the spirit,” Bentley said.
Bentleyville is open 5-9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays until Dec. 27.
Vehicles line up to visit Santa on Nov. 21 during the opening night of the Bentleyville Tour of Lights at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth. Bentleyville switched to a drive-thru format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (2020 file / News Tribune)