KIWANIS HOLIDAY LIGHTS ANNOUNCES IT WILL BE DONATING A RECORD $110,000 TO 71 AREA NONPROFITSAND ANNOUNCES 2025 EVENT STATISTICS
- Feb 11
- 2 min read
The Kiwanis Holiday Lights Board of Directors has approved $110,000 in donations to the seventy-one area non-profits that assisted this past year. “All though we started off slow this year with some bad weather, the generosity of an anonymous donor allowed us to set a record in giving.” said Scott Wojcik, Kiwanis Holiday Lights President. “We are already looking forward to year fourteen with more lights, displays, and hopefully more donations.”
Additional statistics include:
Over 160,000 people attended the free event in 2025.
The event remains completely volunteer driven.
All set-up was completed over 10 days during the five weekends prior to opening.
All tear-down was completed in two and half days in early January.
$110,000 will be donated back to the non-profit groups that assisted with set-up, tear-down and evening volunteer help during the event.
Seventy-one non-profit groups participated, providing 11,000 volunteer hours with 2,500 volunteers participating.
For the thirteenth year, visitors were encouraged to vote on their favorite non-profit tree this year. Winners were:
1st place – LEEP - $300 prize.
2nd Place – Lifeworks Services- $200 prize
3rd Place – MAYBA - $100 prize
Over 2,500 children visited Santa, and each received a Kiwanis Holiday Lights coloring book.
63 Greater Mankato businesses participated as cash sponsors and 30 Businesses were in-kind sponsors, showing continued support for the annual event.
9.2 tons of food was collected for twenty-two area food shelves.
The opening night parade was presented by Wahpekute Lodge- Order of the Arrow.
The winner of the float contest was Mayflower Kato Moving and Storage
Over two million energy-efficient LED lights glowed brightly throughout the event.
Forty-five area restaurants donated food to help feed the volunteers during the event, as well as during set-up and tear-down.
The opening parade and lighting ceremony for the 2026 Kiwanis Holiday Lights season will be November 27th, 2026.
This IGS title takes the Journey to the West mythos and turns it into a fast-paced beat-'em-up with magical artifact systems. The special edition adds more depth to the combat compared to standard brawlers, especially with four players involved. The browser version removes the need for emulator configuration, which is a plus for casual players. If you're curious about how the Dance of the Demons variant differs from the original Oriental Legend, the Oriental Legend Special overview explains the mechanics well.