Rotary Lights clean up begins following 25th year in La Crosse’s Riverside Park

Event opened day after Thanksgiving

As the new year begins, clean up is already underway for a La Crosse holiday tradition.

Crews were taking down the Rotary Lights in Riverside Park.

The annual tradition closed at one this morning, after being open since late November.

While the total amount of donations for food pantries isn’t known yet, the past several years more than 200,000 items have been collected each year.

Organizers are once again thrilled about how the community gave back.

“We had a good year, the people of La Crosse are so generous, we can’t complain about that at all. We were concerned that we only had 33 nights this year, rather than 39, so that makes a difference in terms of both food collection and cash receipts and so on. But we’re going to be ok, we made up a little bit in sponsorships this year and a little less in gates receipts because the days, so we are happy campers,” said Pat Stephens, Rotary Light presidents.

The park is expected to be cleaned up in about a week.

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