It's much too bright during the day to show off the colorful lights surrounding the main lake of Palm Coast's Town Center, but when the sun goes down in December, the crowds gather to look at all the twinkling displays.
Bill Butler is the man behind Palm Coast's Fantasy Lights Festival, but he credits his daughter, Tiffany, who died in 2002 at the age of 14.
Butler's inspiration came from a similar drive-through display in Evansville, Indiana — a display Tiffany begged her father to replicate in Flagler County.
Butler, who is a landscape architect for the city of Palm Coast, said the timing wasn't right until after his daughter had died and he became a member of the Rotary Club of Flagler County.
"They said, 'Hey, we need a new fundraiser here — something more than just a boring golf tournament, you know. Let's up come with some different ideas,'" Butler recalls. "And Tiffany tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Dad, today ... now is the time.'"
It wasn't easy getting the project started, though.
Sponsorships were nearly impossible to find.
Butler then got a sign: "I went out on Tiffany's birthday on Sept. 13, and I sold four displays that day. And we were off and running," he said.
There are now 38 displays with new ones added each year.
For Butler and his wife, Libbie, the lights are everything.
"We don't put up a Christmas tree anymore," he said. "We don't go into decorations at the house like we used to because Tiffany used to love that. We just can’t bring ourselves to do it. So, this is our Christmas."
There is no cost to walk through the display, which runs through Dec. 30.
Donations are accepted, and they toward Rotary Club of Flagler County charities.