by Donald Wood
Last updated: 11:05 AM ET, Tue April 21, 2020
An airport in Wisconsin is looking to keep locals busy during the ongoing coronavirus quarantine by offering a drive-through light show for the whole family.
According to KCRA.com, Dane County Regional Airport near Madison has launched its Flight of Lights event, which consists of six different light displays highlighting local themes, such as sports, popular travel destinations and nature.
Visitors drive along an approved path through the airport while witnessing the spectacle of more than two million twinkling lights. The idea was crafted before the viral pandemic, but the airport opened it early and made it free to enter to promote the facility and help the community.
"It allows people to get out of their house in a safe way," airport director of marketing Brent Kyzer-McHenry told KCRA. "You can remain in your car but still enjoy the world and what it has to offer."
"But when the coronavirus happened, the one thing people aren't doing is traveling, so we thought it would be nice to turn it around as sort of a tribute to the people on the front lines like the health care workers and first responders," Kyzer-McHenry continued.
In addition to highlighting local themes, event organizers decided to honor health care workers and first responders and even added messages reading "thank you" and "hope" along the route to help keep the community positive during the crisis.
Kyzer-McHenry said the response has been overwhelmingly positive, with over 400 cars driving through since it opened Saturday.
Other airports are stepping up for impacted communities as well. United Airlines announced Monday it had converted one of its cargo facilities at George Bush Intercontinental Airport into a food distribution center to aid the Houston Food Bank.
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