Festival of Lights at Kensington LDS Temple brings huge crowds and traffic problems

The Christmas mild show on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ temple in Kensington, Maryland, attracts 1000’s of holiday makers yearly. However this 12 months, the busiest season since COVID, has been overwhelming at occasions.

“The crowds have been splendidly huge, however the huge crowds have been splendidly problematic,” mentioned Temple Customer Heart Director Dave Colton.

He mentioned on Christmas Day alone, 10,000 individuals moved by way of the customer heart and at the least one other 10,000 wandered in regards to the temple grounds.

Wednesday, Jan. 1, would be the last day for the temple’s Competition of Lights this season. Colton mentioned it takes a crew of eight individuals two months to take the lights down and pack them away till subsequent October, when it takes the identical crew two months to place the lights up.

Colton mentioned enhancements the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made to the programming on the customer heart, comparable to reside musical leisure, have pushed curiosity in coming to the temple. However he additionally believes the arrival of the web and viral moments on social media have additionally elevated curiosity.

It has additionally induced some confusion for these attempting to get to the shows.

“Due to some issues that we haven’t been answerable for, like Google Maps, like TikTok, extra individuals are conscious of (the sunshine show), and extra individuals are being routed by way of neighborhoods, which makes us unhappy,” Colton mentioned.

In keeping with Colton, parking on the customer heart is restricted and there have been occasions when motorists who haven’t been in a position to get a spot have pushed into the neighborhood and parked there, generally blocking a resident’s driveway. He mentioned temple workers are working with space officers and neighbors to minimize the influence.

Colton mentioned the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been in a position to get ‘native site visitors solely’ indicators positioned on some residential streets. However it’s nonetheless contemplating different methods to minimize the site visitors influence on its neighbors.

“A number of the issues we’re doing subsequent 12 months is presumably having timed entrances into the car parking zone,” Colton mentioned. “So individuals can solely come if they’ve a ticket that enables them to return,” he mentioned. “We’ll even have passes for neighbors who wish to stroll right here.”

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