Las Vegas Weekly

November 20, 2009 · 10:31 AM

Opportunity Village opens its 18th annual Magical Forest

By Robin Leach

Photo: Opportunity Village

It’s the most beautiful holiday tradition in Las Vegas as the Opportunity Village Magical Forest opens its doors for the 18th annual holiday season celebration tomorrow night. This year’s newest attraction will be the Santa Speedway.

The winter wonderland attracts more than 150,000 visitors each year and was ranked one of HGTV’s annual Top Holiday Destinations. Organizers hope to generate more than $1 million from the holiday fundraiser.

Linda Smith, the incredible force behind our beloved local charity, said: “We began the Magical Forest in 1992, and it has become a Vegas tradition. As our largest annual fundraiser, 100 percent of money raised goes directly to the programs and services provided to men and women with profound intellectual disabilities offering employment training, advocacy and social re-creation.”

Tomorrow’s 6 p.m. official tree-lighting ceremony will include a Gingerbread House contest with Strip headliner celebrity judges Zowie Bowie, who also will entertain with the Champagne Showgirls welcoming Santa Claus arriving by sleigh with his elves. The gingerbread entries remain on display throughout the holidays.

Tickets for the amazing attraction are less than $10. Daily hours are 5:30 to 9 p.m. and until 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays through Jan. 2.

Rides include the Forest Express passenger train as it winds through 2 acres of displays and hundreds of Christmas trees decorated in more than a million twinkling lights! An enchanted carousel delights riders and spectators alike with its animals, lights and traditional music. The Alpine Slide is another major attraction. Don’t forget that on Dec. 14, you get to lock up our Sheriff Doug Gillespie as part of the fundraising fun!

Opportunity Village also remembers the disadvantaged and at-risk children of our community. Thanks to an anonymous donor who enjoyed the first Magical Forest 18 years ago and left a legacy, a bus tour program enables first- through third-graders to enjoy lunch, take the full tour and meet Santa.

Please support Opportunity Village and this year’s Magical Forest. If you have never seen or experienced it, you are missing out on one of the world’s most extraordinary displays of the season. Happy Holidays, everybody, and remember Opportunity Village’s next fundraiser is our Dec. 5 Great Santa Run at Town Square, where we hope to wrest back the Guinness World Record for the most Santas in one place.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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