{"id":64761,"date":"2025-12-19T00:10:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/64761\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T00:10:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T00:10:14","slug":"vandalism-at-lights-in-the-parkway-to-cost-allentown-100k-display-to-reopen-to-cars-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/64761\/","title":{"rendered":"Vandalism at Lights in the Parkway to cost Allentown $100K; display to reopen to cars Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Vandals caused at least $100,000 in damages to the city\u2019s Lights in the Parkway<\/a> holiday display over the weekend, but the show will go on, officials said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMove It Monday,\u201d during which people can walk, run or bike through the display, will start as scheduled at 5:30 p.m. Monday, despite about 10% of lights being out of commission, according to Mayor Matt Tuerk\u2019s estimate.<\/p>\n

A Hanukkah celebration is set for Monday night at Lights in the Parkway.<\/p>\n

And the annual attraction will be ready to welcome guests in vehicles by Tuesday night after Holiday Outdoor Decor loaned almost two dozen display pieces to help replace some of what was destroyed.<\/p>\n

City crews on Monday were working to clear vandalized displays, officials said during a news conference.<\/p>\n

Signature displays \u2014 like the Old Man Winter, Fishing Penguins and the Penguin with a Top Hat \u2014 were unsalvageable and declared \u201ctotal losses\u201d; they are valued at more than $60,000 total, according to the city. Several others also sustained damage.<\/p>\n

The total cost of vandalism reaches into six figures when accounting for additional staffing and cleanup costs associated with the display and up to $13,000 in lost revenues, the mayor said.<\/p>\n

‘Incredible’ response: Mayor<\/p>\n

Lights in the Parkway raises funds for local nonprofits. Allen High School was due to receive funding from Sunday night\u2019s gate receipts; the city will donate to the school and is encouraging others to help.<\/p>\n

Allentown also is seeking donations to help replace damaged displays.<\/p>\n

The vandalism \u201chad a tremendous impact on what is a beloved community tradition for us.”<\/p>\n

Mayor Matt Tuerk<\/p>\n

Officials on Monday offered no update about the investigation into vandalism at Lights in the Parkway.<\/p>\n

Allentown police will be \u201cvisible\u201d at upcoming events, Tuerk said while encouraging “anybody with information about the damage done to our beloved\u201d display to contact authorities.<\/p>\n

The vandalism \u201chad a tremendous impact on what is a beloved community tradition for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But residents\u2019 response to the vandalism has been \u201cincredible\u201d and \u201cso moving,\u201d Tuerk said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllentown is going to show up and celebrate, because you can knock Old Man Winter down, but you can’t keep Allentown down,\u201d Tuerk said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Vandals caused at least $100,000 in damages to the city\u2019s Lights in the Parkway holiday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,34469,120,34470,34471,5134,34474,34475,34472,34473],"class_list":["post-64761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-holiday-lights","tag-allentown-news","tag-allentown-police-lights-in-the-parkway","tag-allentown-vandalism","tag-lights-in-the-parkway","tag-lights-in-the-parkway-closed","tag-lights-in-the-parkway-damaged","tag-lights-in-the-parkway-vandalism","tag-when-is-lights-in-the-parkway-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64761","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=64761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}