Published: November 26, 2007 03:57 pm      

ACM sets trip to Winter Festival of Lights

CUMBERLAND - Allegany College of Maryland is hosting a Dec. 2 bus trip to Wheeling, W.Va., for a Christmas holiday-themed outing that centers on a tour of the famed Winter Festival of Lights.

Other features of the day-long outing include the Oglebay Institute Mansion Museum and the Good Zoo - both in a festive mood - capped off by the Winter Festival of Lights dinner show. The festival is a holiday tradition since 1985 and a nationally ranked tourist attraction.

ACM's jam-packed trip to Wheeling's Oglebay Park is certain to put participants in a seasonal spirit for the lights tour alone: Displays that cover more than 300 acres are seen in a driving tour of over six miles.

More are added an-nually to such favorites as the Snowflake Tunnel, with dozens of twinkling snowflakes; the massive hilltop Polyhedron Star, with more than 2,000 lights; and Poinsettia Wreath and Candle, the festival's largest at 60 feet high and 50 feet in diameter.

New this year is the Gardens of Light. A hilltop garden area of Oglebay becomes a seasonal extravaganza with 150 hanging baskets of light and thousands of lighted flowers and trees, all animated and choreographed to holiday music.

In only its second year is a lighting display at the Good Zoo, a 30-acre facility housing more than 80 species. "Good Zoo Lights up for You" is a dazzling nightly show with 35,000 lights choreographed to holiday music. There is also a large O-gauge model train exhibit.

The Mansion Museum, featuring period antiques, treasures from the area glass industry and heritage exhibits, is elegantly decorated for the holidays.

The glass museum features more than 3,000 examples of Wheeling-area glass made between 1829 and 1939, including a new display of crystal, carnival, colored and opalescent glass made by Ohio Valley manufacturer H. Northwood & Co.

Holiday shoppers will appreciate the fact that 90 minutes has been scheduled in Oglebay Park gift shops. The ACM trip begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends with a midnight return to the Cumberland campus.

This college "culture coach" bus trip is sponsored by the college's Institute for Professional Development and Extended Learning, a unit of the ACM Center for Continuing Education. The cost includes transportation, the exhibits mentioned here and a dinner show.

To register call (301) 784-5341. For more information call (301) 784-5121.

Information is also available on the college Web site, www.allegany.edu.