Southern Arkansas University will host its 39th annual Celebration of Lights on Dec 1.
This major event does not come together easily.
According to Director of Student Affairs Facilities, Brad Stout, planning the event and decorations starts in early to mid-October.
Stout said that the hardest part of organizing the event is, "making sure that we're organized on the front end to be able to not waste the opportunity to have all these volunteers come out and get it together and get it up."
Freshman seminar classes and members of the University Housing Residence Hall Association all volunteer to help get the lights and decorations up.
Between the volunteers and staff, nearly 200 to 250 people put in 500-plus man-hours of work to put up the 275,000 to 350,000 lights that decorate the SAU Campus.
According to Stout, when the campus used incandescent lights they had to replace lights every year but since switching to LED bulbs lights last three to five years before needing to be replaced.
The lights stay up until the end of the Christmas break.
"We actually use some of our Residence Hall staff to help us with that. And so what does take us 450 to 500 man hours to put up comes down in almost an afternoon," said Stout.
Stout handles the majority of the organization of the event.
"I think for me, you know listening to the audience countdown as we do the big countdown, it's still a magical moment for me. Even though I've seen it in bits and pieces plugged in turned on throughout the weeks before getting ready for it, when we turn on everything that night, it's still just a really awesome experience and to see it all come together as one big picture," he said.
Stout said that the whole event from the lighting to tear down is considered by staff as a way to give back to the local community and he encourages anyone who can to come to see the lights even if it is not during the first night of the Celebration of Lights.
The annual Christmas Parade which will begin at 5 pm downtown and end at the campus will start the night.
After the parade finishes SAU President, Trey Berry will greet everyone and light the tree and the bell tower.
A tree made of lights sits between Cross and Harton Theatre. (Joshua Turner / Banner News)
Staff can be seen decorating the tree in front of Overstreet. (Joshua Turner / Banner News)