The first Christmas gift of 2015 for the area was announced this morning when the organizers of the annual Avenue of Lights in Quincy announced that the Quincy Exchange Club will be taking over the operations of the event on April 1st.

The Avenue of Lights long time organizers, John Groves and Bob Scott, initially requested that the Quincy Park District consider taking over the event but The Park District had to decline due to staffing and financial issues.

The hope was that the new operators would be a non-profit organization and after several inquiries from other organizations, the Avenue of Lights committee decided that the not for profit Quincy Exchange Club would be the best fit.

In the agreement, the Exchange Club will basically lease the event for two years and then have the option to take over the ownership of the event in 2017. This decision will assure that the Avenue of Lights will continue to operate for the benefit of the community.

The Avenue of Lights has been in operation for 11 years and over 500,000 cars have gone through the event at Moorman and Wavering Parks in Quincy.

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