The Bohunk finally convinced me to go with her to Bentleyville, the winter attraction in Duluth. Bentleyville is known as America’s largest free walk-through holiday light display, located at Bayfront Festival Park in Duluth. I’d managed to avoid what I thought was a hyped-up commercial event with massive crowds and pop-up businesses designed to siphon money out of eager parents’ pockets to entertain the kids. But that’s not the case at all.
The tradition started with a guy named Nathan Bentley decorating his home in Esko, MN, part of a friendly competition to put up more lights than his neighbor. In 2008, Duluth Mayor Don Ness called Bentley to propose moving the light display to Bayfront Festival Park on the shores of Lake Superior. The “Tour of Lights” lit up Bayfront Park for the first time on November 27, 2009.
I enjoy a healthy dislike of crowds and the depressing financial cost of popular public events. I was convinced to give this display of holiday lights a chance. The only expense we’d incur was $10 for parking. There was no entry fee, and the event offered free coffee and cookies, along with complimentary popcorn and marshmallows for s’mores, to be warmed over a dozen or more wood fires on the grounds. What a great time we had.
We went on the first Monday it was open. Crowds were forecast to be moderate, and the weather was fantastic, with calm winds and warm temperatures. We had a great time exploring the grounds and the three-quarters of a mile of tunnels of lights that cover them. The lighted Christmas tree, 128 feet tall with 150,000 LED lights that danced and changed colors to music played throughout the park, mesmerized the Bohunk.
The people, and there were quite a few, were quietly festive and respectful of the display and old guys like me—even the young ones. It affirmed my faith in humanity and left me with a positive Christmas spirit that I thought was lost forever.
Changing course a bit, after seeing real people get along in Bentleyville, I’m struck by the bitterness that now defines our politics—a bitterness we have allowed to fester. Those in powerful places deliberately manufacture fear and division, incentivizing us to turn on one another. This manufactured hostility serves as a distraction, enabling them to build massive careers and net worths, often through greed, incompetence, or even criminal activity. At the same time, consensus on any serious issue vanishes entirely.
Some of us get into this black hole, arguing about capitalism, socialism, or communism. The arguments serve to keep the teakettle of politics whistling on the front burner. But those words have little relevance to our day-to-day lives. Since the days of revolution, our government has always played a significant role.
It wasn’t that many years ago that people carried water home in buckets, and sewage was drained to open curbs along the street. Private enterprise didn’t create public water and sewer services; governments did.
To promote the building of railroads, a vital transportation system for people and merchandise, the U.S. government gave certain private railroad businesses massive tracts of public land as a subsidy to finance and encourage the construction of railway lines. The grants were not continuous blocks of land. Instead, the government gave railroad companies alternate sections of public land (one square mile each), forming a checkerboard pattern alongside the proposed track.
Consider that the government has built and maintains the roads, like those leading to Bentleyville, which are vital for our community and daily lives.
Government is a key player in building our electric grids. It is essential to the landfill containment of solid waste from our homes. It operates court systems that enable people like you and me to resolve grievances with others peacefully. The courts align with law enforcement, another government creation, to ensure that laws are enforced and that some criminals are held to account. Fire departments were created to put out fires, an effort that requires community involvement.
Airport construction and operation, along with government air traffic control, keep flying as one of the safest modes of travel. Airline companies don’t build airports.
Most of us were educated in public schools. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, created by the government during the Great Depression, protects the savings of Americans like you and me. The government establishes agencies like the National Weather Service to protect life and property and advance science.
Hearing people arguing about whether we live in a democracy or a republic drives me up the wall. Our country is both. Likewise, arguing over capitalism or socialism misses the boat entirely. Our country is both.
As Bentleyville displays so well, we can all get along, follow the rules, and enjoy the beauty of our communities.
