90-Year-Old Veteran Inspires Hayfield's First Holiday Festival

This year the small town of Hayfield, Minnesota held their first holiday festival. The Hayfield Holiday Fest took place this past Saturday. Part of the reason the festival happened this year is because of 90-year-old veteran Delmont Martin.

Delmont has lived in Hayfield for the past 33 years according to Yahoo News. He worked as a manager at the Hayfield American Legion and always noticed the massive pine tree behind the Legion. ABC 6 News says he tried to get the tree decorated for the holidays. He'd bring up the idea to new people each year but no one took on the task until this year.

Get our free mobile app

Richard Rieken with the Hayfield Chamber of Commerce and Delmont spoke and Richard decided to make it happen. Last year Hayfield held a holiday parade to help get people out of their homes in the middle of the pandemic so they basically took that and blew it up into a whole festival. And the big event was the lighting of the 70-foot pine tree by the American Legion.

Paul O'Brien, Hayfield's fire chief and public works director, told Yahoo News that there were several thousand lights to make the tree as magnificent as it deserved to be. On Saturday during the celebration, Delmont got the honor of flipping the switch.

Also at the Hayfield Holiday Fest was "a parade, a bazaar and bake sale, sleigh rides, cookie decorating and craft making, s'mores, [and] carolers" according to Yahoo News. And they want it to be even bigger next year.

Extraordinary Holiday Light Displays From Around the World

Tradition is everything during the holiday season, and that is evident from these massive holiday light displays throughout the world. Each year, these staples grow, but the celebration is what's most important to visitors. The support is what allowed these displays to become the biggest, most over-the-top displays in the world.

According to the Travel Channel, these ten cities have displays that are the very best in the business.