By Krystle J. Bailey
It’s not every day that one of our beloved South Jersey family destinations is on national TV.
This past Wednesday, Storybook Land quite literally lit up the national stage on ABC with their debut on The Great Christmas Light Fight. The episode aired on Wednesday December 16th.
South Jersey residents love the way Storybook Land lights up Route 322 every Christmas. Approximately two years ago, the team at ABC took notice of our favorite childhood playground as well.
Operations manager, Jessica Panetta received the call that Storybook Land was being considered for participation on the holiday themed show. The marketing team submitted pictures and videos then busied themselves with the holiday season, nearly forgetting that they were still in the running.
The Great Christmas Light Fight, now on its 8th season, films episodes a year in advance. So, in the fall of 2019, ABC again reached out to Storybook Land letting them know that the show would go on.
From there, it was a whirlwind of lights, camera, and action. Over one million lights, to be exact.
“We’ve worked with local news stations before but never anything like this,” expressed Panetta in reference to filming the show. “When you’re watching TV, you don’t think about the work that goes into it.”
This week we were able to watch the magic unfold as Storybook land competed against three other decked out Christmas displays across the country.
Storybook Land faithfuls were able to see behind the scenes footage of what goes into bringing the Christmas magic to life every year. Viewers also got a dose of nostalgia with footage of Storybook Land over the years.
For 65 years, Storybook land has been bringing our childhood dreams to life. Now we got to share our South Jersey gem with the rest of the world.
To our disappointment, Storybook Land didn’t take away the $50,000 prize but they’re forever winners in our South Jersey hearts.
Catch the replay on Hulu or on the ABC app.
Krystle J Bailey. Multimedia journalist, Author, Poet
