WINTER PARK, Fla. – If you stroll down Park Avenue this time of year, you can feel it - that warm, glowing little shift that says the holidays have arrived. But behind the twinkling trees and festive storefronts is a tiny team with a very big job.
Right in the center of Park Avenue, tucked among the oak branches and brick sidewalks, a crew from Winter Park’s Parks and Recreation Department is quietly building one of Central Florida’s most beloved holiday traditions.
“Well number one, I’m just the head elf,” laughs Cathleen Daus, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation. “The actual magic happens with all of my staff. We have about sixteen people working on the project - wrapping trees, setting up lights, and putting in all the poinsettias up and down the avenue.”
Every year, their team transforms Central Park and downtown Winter Park into a glowing wonderland. This kind of magic doesn’t appear with the flip of a switch.
“You’d be surprised,” Daus said. “Between twelve and sixteen people light this entire park with about 250,000 lights and 25 miles worth of wire.”
That’s enough wire to stretch all the way from Lake Eola to Disney’s Magic Kingdom - which feels fitting, because the finished product is pretty enchanting.
And to pull it off, the crew starts early. Really early.
“Some of our team start as early as three in the morning,” Daus said. “That way they can be on the avenue without interrupting traffic. We work around the clock for three solid weeks.”
The large-scale lighting effort really blossomed during the pandemic, when city leaders wanted to give families something beautiful to experience outdoors.
“The city really jumped all in during COVID,” Daus said. “We wanted people to have something joyful to look forward to… a reason to come outside and just enjoy being together. Parks is kind of the backbone of the fun for the city.”
And when the sun drops below the horizon - that’s when the magic truly switches on.
“As soon as the sun sets, the lights come on section by section - so it almost feels like the city’s being lit as you walk,” Daus said.
Every tree, wreath, orb, and sparkling archway is part of a carefully planned design. This year’s theme, created by the Park Avenue District, brings back favorites like the Cathedral of Lights and the carousel. The effect is simple: joy.
“It just feels magical,” Daus said.
As a Winter Park resident herself, Daus sometimes returns to Park Avenue after hours, watching families laugh, linger, and snap photos under the trees her team lovingly wrapped.
But there’s one visitor who brings her the most joy - her mom.
“My mom is eighty, and when we walk down the lights, you just see her light up like a kid again,” she said. “And I know so many other people are having that same experience. That’s what makes me proud.”
Daus may call herself the “head elf,” but she insists the real magic belongs to her team.
“We put the love into it,” she said. “We want people to enjoy the holidays the same way we would at home.”
And judging by the glow on the faces of visitors young and old, the lights aren’t just decoration - they’re Winter Park’s way of sharing a little joy with anyone who walks down the avenue.
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