photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Melissa Corbin and her dog, Bentley, pose for a photo Tuesday evening, Dec. 17, 2024, in the light tunnel at South Park.

People are attracted to Christmas lights like moths to a flame, so it’s not hugely surprising to Forestry Supervisor Levi Parkin that the new light tunnel in Lawrence’s South Park has proved such a hit. It is hugely gratifying, though.

“It seems to be popular,” he said Tuesday afternoon — an accurate assessment, given that shortly after sundown Tuesday, an assortment of families, cyclists, runners and pets could be seen basking in the glow, some repeatedly. Brylen Ezell and Desmond Perez, two unrelated 3-year-olds, asked their respective caretakers to take multiple spins through the lights.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Perez family — from left, Daniel, Desmond, 3, Amelia, and Arthur, 10 months — enjoys the light tunnel in South Park on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Darci Deskin and her 3-year-old granddaughter, Brylen Ezell, visit the light tunnel in South Park to take photos Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.

The tunnel of 48,000 golden lights — give or take — stretches 260 feet from the Douglas County Courthouse toward the park’s iconic gazebo, giving people a chance to not just view Christmas lights but to be “in” them.

The tunnel was inspired by a trip Parkin made with his son earlier this fall to the Topeka Zoo, which had a similar feature. A coworker had also seen the zoo’s tunnel, and the two men compared notes.

“He and I just got to talking about how cool it was, and I said I thought we could make something like that happen,” he said. “And after some discussion and planning and some emails we kind of figured out what we needed.”

What they needed was a massive amount of PVC piping to arc over the sidewalk and about 650 strands of lights. Fortunately, they had a surplus of golden lights already — the city strings hundreds of thousands of lights, or roughly 10 miles’ worth, downtown every year — so they didn’t need to purchase any extra.

They chose South Park as their location because in the past they had lit up all the redbud trees lining the sidewalk there, but they couldn’t do that anymore to the same effect because the trees had gotten older and some had died, interrupting the tunnel-like flow.

Instead, the forestry staff spent five days constructing the PVC tunnel over the sidewalk and attaching lights. They had originally intended to do about 75 feet, but then decided what the heck, let’s triple that.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Katelynn Fowler poses for a photo Tuesday evening, Dec. 17, 2024, in the light tunnel at South Park.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Aaron Chilcoat and his dog, Maeby, stroll through the light tunnel in South Park on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.

By day, the tunnel doesn’t look like much, but after dark it comes alive and attracts pedestrians. Recently, Parkin said, high school students showed up in their formalwear to take photos, and families routinely turn out with kids and sweater-clad dogs to take a stroll and collect images for next year’s Christmas card.

“It’s pretty easy to see the value of it to the community,” Parkin said.

Will they do it again next year?

“I think I’ve learned that with lighting any time we do anything once it means we’re never going to not do it,” Parkin said. “We generally try to do things bigger and better each year, so we’ll see if we can top it next year.”

The light tunnel will stay up through Valentine’s Day.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

A runner goes through the light tunnel Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, at South Park.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Cyclists take a spin through the light tunnel in South Park on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Pedestrians visit the light tunnel in South Park on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The light tunnel at South Park isn’t empty for long.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The light tunnel in South Park by day, pictured Monday, Dec. 16, 2024.