Ten years ago Miller Brewing Company reintroduced holiday lights back to Miller Valley after a 50-year hiatus. I remember as the Light Show Committee sat around a large table in our corporate pub brainstorming a variety of themes, when suddenly the simplest of concepts took on a new life with a new spelling … Holiday Lites. It could not have been more perfect.
Of course the shows have had their variations over the years. At first, it was for employees only. We had ice sculptors, magicians, celebrities and food vendors on the street in freezing-cold temperatures. A few years later, we opened up the concept of Lite Shows to the public in a small capacity that took a few years to grow in popularity. But slowly and surely they began to grow. We incorporated Windell Middlebrooks, the High Life Delivery Guy, and even the Girl In The Moon into our Holiday Lites show skits in recent years. The most impactful addition, however, has been to choose a family on each tour throughout the evening to “flip the switch” and start the show. That simple act is absolutely priceless and it shows on every face as they head off to find those glorious beer samples that await them after the tour (if 21 or older, of course).
Never in my wildest imagination did I think Holiday Lites would become what it is today … tradition. Not only is this something that we as employees look forward to and attend every year, but thousands in the community do, too, as they visit multiple times throughout a single season. I have received testimonials from people who visited Miller Valley to view the lights as young children with their parents in the 1950s and ‘60s. Those same people now return annually with wives, husbands and children of their own to carry on the tradition. Of all the gifts I could think of to share with this community–that one fills my bucket up to the brim. I myself am a wife and mother to a family who attends annually, just like the rest of the community, to share a traditional holiday moment together and just … enjoy.