{"id":64457,"date":"2025-12-18T17:49:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/64457\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T17:49:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T17:49:12","slug":"allentowns-lights-in-the-parkway-shining-bright-again-as-search-for-vandals-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/64457\/","title":{"rendered":"Allentown&#8217;s Lights in the Parkway shining bright again as search for vandals continues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/y07btsf53j2q3ltr.jpg\" alt=\"Allentown Lights in the Parkway shining again after vandalism \" class=\"sr-only\" data-v-4292be72=\"\"\/>    <\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">ALLENTOWN, Pa. &#8211; Crews in Allentown spent a blustery Monday outside in the snow as they worked to repair and replace holiday light <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox29.com\/news\/allentowns-lights-parkway-closed-after-major-vandalism-damages-holiday-displays\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">displays that were vandalized over the weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>   Vandalism impacts holiday tradition <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The vandalism affected the Lights in the Parkway&#8217;s signature Old Man Winter display, resulting in a total loss. Several other displays were damaged, and a porta potty was also found in the river. The damage was discovered Sunday as crews were at the park plowing snow.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">\u00a0The popular holiday attraction, in its 29th season, could not open Sunday night, said Matt Tuerk, Mayor of Allentown.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">The city estimates the total loss at $100,000, which includes damaged displays, staffing, cleanup costs, and lost revenue from closures. &#8220;This was an incredibly disappointing incident\u2026 costly but not how we define our community,&#8221; said Tuerk.<\/p>\n<p> Community steps up to help <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Within 24 hours, the community showed its support. Holiday Outdoor Decor, a commercial business, loaned 22 decorations to Lights in the Parkway.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve always brought my family here \u2014 my children and now my grandchild. We enjoy seeing the lights,&#8221; said Brian Arnold, vice president of east coast sales for Holiday Outdoor Decor. &#8220;Its supposed to be a happy time of year and this unforeseen thing happened last night puts a damper on things we knew we had to do something to make it better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Lights in the Parkway is shining bright again as police continue their investigation to find the vandals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">&#8220;We&#8217;re going to find the person who did this and hold them accountable,&#8221; said Tuerk.<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Allentown officials say Move It Monday will proceed Monday night as planned, featuring a Hanukkah Night theme in partnership with the Jewish Community Center of the Lehigh Valley, from 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTXF\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">What you can do:<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Police are asking those responsible to turn themselves in. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Allentown Police Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-v-6c8e215c=\"\">Meanwhile, a <a href=\"https:\/\/givebutter.com\/25lights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">fundraiser is underway<\/a> to help the parks department purchase new lights.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information from the Allentown Police Department and city officials.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox29.com\/tag\/us\/pa\/lehigh-county\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lehigh County<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox29.com\/tag\/holidays\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-6c8e215c=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Holidays<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. &#8211; Crews in Allentown spent a blustery Monday outside in the snow as they worked to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,3734,433,139,539,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-64457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-holidays","12":"tag-lehigh-county","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-pa","15":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}