FAIRBURY, NE — A southeast Nebraska man is preparing to bring the Christmas spirit to a local park.

Brian Schmidt is organizing the first Christmas at Crystal light show at Crystal Springs Park southwest of Fairbury. The drive-through display will cover much of the area near the playground this first year. He hopes to grow it to include the whole park in future years.

“We have this cool park. In the winter time it’s mostly empty outside of a few people that come fishing in the wintertime," Schmidt said. "There’s no camping, there’s really nothing else to do (at the park), so this is something to fill in a little bit of downtime in the winter and something for people to enjoy out here.”

Schmidt says he has a big collection of lights but is inviting businesses and individuals to put up their own displays.

“I’ve got my own idea, I’ve got some of my own stuff to put up," Schmidt said. "I could use some help putting all that together, it takes a lot of hours obviously. If anybody has their own display that they’d like to put out here, we’ve got plenty of room for them.”

Set up will happen on December 2nd and 3rd with the light show opening on the 3rd. People interested in volunteering can contact Schmidt by phone (402-520-0018) or reach out on the Christmas at Crystal Facebook page.

Schmidt hopes to host special nights with Santa Claus and a live nativity scene. The display will be open through Christmas.

Schmidt says the display already has multiple sponsors including Loveland Ag Products, Maatsch Oil, Scherbarth Ace Hardware, the Fairbury Chamber of Commerce, City of Fairbury and Schmidt Machine.