Hayride Gives Open Air View of Festival of Lights
A hayride in Upper Marlboro through more than a million lights provides an outdoor experience. "The ambiance is there, is real, it's live," says county park aid.
Converts fill the ranks of hayriders that hop on tractor-pulled, open-air wagons to journey through the more than a million twinkling lights that fill Watkins Regional Park for its annual Festival of Lights. Motorists who used to drive through are now among the hayride ranks, according to Ronnie Proctor, administrative aid at Old Maryland Farm. They tell him they love the open air experience. "The ambiance is there, is real, it's live," Proctor said. Former car drivers tell him that watching the lights in an open-air wagon is "a whole different experience from driving through it," he said. Hayrides are available at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights in December, but participants should arrive at 6:45 p.m. when the wagons are loaded, …
