The Bristol Chamber of Commerce, Bristol Motor Speedway, Speedway Children’s Charities and Food City have partnered to provide a special holiday experience for local students and families in lieu of the Bristol Christmas Parade this year it was announced today during a press conference at Bristol Motor Speedway.
“The Bristol Chamber has a long history of coordinating the Bristol Christmas Parade. The parade is such an exciting tradition that involves so many local businesses, schools and others in addition to the thousands that line the streets of downtown Bristol to watch,” said Beth Rhinehart, President & CEO of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce. “You can only imagine that the rise in COVID cases brought great concern for the safety of all involved. With that we made the very thoughtful, but difficult decision to cancel the parade this year – the first time ever.”
The Bristol Chamber partnered with Bristol Motor Speedway, Speedway Children’s Charities and Food City to provide vouchers for approximately 4,000 households to be able to enjoy the tradition-rich Pinnacle Speedway in Lights holiday event this year. Food City is the presenting sponsor and because of their generous donation OPERATION BRISTOL HOLIDAY IN LIGHTS is now a reality for the children in our community.
“At Food City, we firmly believe in helping to make our community a better place to work, live and educate our young people. While the Bristol Christmas Parade has certainly been a family tradition for many years, this year has been like no other that we have seen. This experience has made us stronger and better at finding ways to do things differently,” said Steve Smith, President and CEO of Food City. “Our whole Food City team is excited to partner with the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, Bristol Motor Speedway and Speedway Children’s Charities to bring this opportunity to so many folks.”
Vouchers will be distributed through the Bristol VA City Schools, Bristol TN City Schools and Sullivan County East Zone schools (Sullivan East High School, East Middle School, Bluff City Elementary, Mary Hughes Elementary and Emmett Elementary).
The Pinnacle Speedway in Lights, the major fundraiser for SCC-Bristol, runs from Friday, Nov. 13 through Saturday, Jan. 2, and has long been hailed as the premier holiday light display in the Appalachian Highlands Region. The Pinnacle Speedway in Lights powered by TVA spreads across a four-mile route illuminated by more than 2 million lights among 250 dazzling displays. A trip through the light show sends guests down alongside the historic Bristol Dragway and all throughout the property, culminating with a lap around the iconic high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway half-mile oval.
The Pinnacle Speedway in Lights costs $20 for cars from Sunday through Thursday and $25 per vehicle on Friday and Saturday nights. For larger groups, vans are $50 and buses are $125. Visitors can take advantage of the Jingle Bell Lane presented by Citi (fast pass), a speedy $50 option which provides a shorter wait time on select nights when traffic lines get long. As always, a significant portion of the proceeds for The Pinnacle Speedway in Lights will be used by SCC to give to numerous organizations that serve children in the 18-county area surrounding BMS.
For more information about the Pinnacle Speedway In Lights powered by TVA, please click here.
