93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Big crowds are expected again tonight for Veterans United Home Loans’ (VU) south Columbia holiday light spectacular.
The event opened on Tuesday evening and continues each night through December 17 from 7 to 10:30. VU spokesman Chad Moller tells 939 the Eagle that traffic flow is normally heaviest early each night.
“Even during the high traffic times, it really only takes only about 15 to 20 minutes to drive through the whole show. It’s just the bigger delay is getting into the complex because of all the traffic,” Moller says.
The driving route is one-mile long around the Veterans United campus complex on Veterans United Drive, and the traffic flow accommodates about 1,000 vehicles per evening. The event is free and no reservations are required. This is the event’s fourth year. VU spokesman Moller notes the first year was during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
“It’s grown a lot since that very first time because we didn’t have a ton of time to put it together. But honestly I don’t think the idea was hatched with the concept of continuing it on for a long time. It was just something we wanted to do to try to uplift the community in a very dark period of our time collectively. So, but it was so well-received like you say,” says Moller.
Mr. Moller tells 939 the Eagle that Veterans United is pleased that the community has embraced the holiday light display, adding that VU is proud to do it. VU is Boone County’s third-largest employer with 3,474 employees, according to the latest Columbia Regional Economic Development Incorporated (REDI) statistics.
