Georgia Chick-fil-A Rings in Holiday Season with Nearly Half a Million Christmas Lights

Tré Goins-Phillips
12-05-2020

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One Chick-fil-A in Athens, Georgia, really knows how to deck the halls.

The impressive annual display — complete with a twinkling Christmas tree on the roof — is known as the “Lights of Athens” and is made up of nearly half a million Christmas lights that drape all four sides of the restaurant and stretch overhead across the entire parking lot.

The Chick-fil-A location first went viral for its Christmas lights in 2016.

Alex Clark, who runs the Athens eatery, decided to start hanging the Christmas lights to spread holiday cheer and hope. In November, locals gathered outside the Chick-fil-A to see the lights turned on.

One Athens resident, Sheila Wright, told Chick-fil-A what the Christmas display means to her and her family.

“When I see the Lights of Athens, I have a warm, happy feeling of love and hope,” she said. “They are wonderful and they are beautiful. The lights mean happy and sweet memories of my son.”

“The past few years, my son, Travis Lamar Wright, brought me out here to see the lights. He was an outstanding, wonderful young man,” Wright continued. “Travis was killed February of 2018 in a wreck on Highway 316. The Lights of Athens give me a very warm feeling of him. It was our family tradition to see the lights every Christmas. Every time I see them, I have a smile on my face, a happy memory in my heart, but a tear in my eye.”

While Chick-fil-A has decided not to re-open its dining rooms amid the COVID-19 pandemic, new this year, customers who go through the Athens restaurant’s drive-through can tune into a specific radio station to hear a special playlist of Christmas songs curated by Chick-fil-A.

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About The Author

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Tré
Goins-Phillips

Tré Goins-Phillips serves as a host and content creator for CBN News. He hosts the weekly “Faith vs. Culture” show and co-hosts “Quick Start,” a news podcast released every weekday morning. Born and raised in Virginia, Tré now lives along the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he has built his career, often traveling to meet and interview fascinating cultural influencers and entertainers. After working with brands like TheBlaze and Independent Journal Review, Tré began his career at CBN News in 2018 and has a particular passion for bridging the chasm between the secular world and the church
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