CITY'S HOLIDAY OF LIGHTS TOUR NEXT WEEK

Looking at Christmas lights is a favorite holiday pastime for many. The Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau is trying to make it easier to see the best displays with a map and a bus tour.

The bus tour, which will be held Dec. 17 and 18, allows people to sit back and look at lights without having to worry about driving, while enjoying the camaraderie of others, said Lin W. Jones, sales-marketing manager of the Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"We scout out the best light displays for the tour," Jones said.

The buses will leave from the bureau's parking lot, 100 Broadway, at 7 each night. Tickets are $1 each.

The tour will include the Holiday of Lights display at Cape Girardeau County Park, winners from the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's Holiday of Lights decorating contest and other private residences and businesses.

This year there also will be Santa sightings, Jones said.

In areas along the route where there aren't as many displays, tour guides will tell Santa jokes and ask Santa trivia questions.

Tour-takers may even catch glimpses of Santa along the way.

At the end of the bus tour, which should last about an hour and a half, there will be treats for children. Photos with Santa will be offered for $1 each.

For those who can't make the bus tour, the Convention and Visitors Bureau shared with the Southeast Missourian the map that will be used. That map will be available at the bureau offices beginning Dec. 20.

Jones said she hopes the map alerts those whose homes are on the tour so they will turn on their lights from 7 to 9 p.m. Dec. 17 and 18.

"If they like, we encourage people who live along the route to come out and wave when the buses go by," Jones said.

She recalled that last year the buses passed a home where a party was in progress and party-goers came out and danced a chorus line.