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Since 1998, Duluth’s Marcia Hales has climbed the tall ladders to string lights in her trees, rounded up the lucky magical penguins to place along a path under lit arches and ignited the cheery outside firepit to welcome guests to her Spirit in the Lights walk-through display of holiday happiness.
This year, though, Hales says, will need to be her last.
Saturday, Jan. 5, will be the last night the lights will be on in Hales’ Park Point yard at 3739 S. Lake Ave., all the way to the beautiful sandy Lake Superior beach, 5-9 p.m.
Over the decades, Marcia’s displays and warming house have become the stuff of Christmas legend, with people falling in love, finding solace and friends (plus at least one birth potentially connected to a “penguin wish”).
In 2015, ABC’s “Great Christmas Light Fight” featured Marcia’s display and Reggie (in costume and with a wand) did the honors of turning on the lights that year.