For the past three weeks, the West End Festival of Lights has drawn crowds of people to the fairgrounds in Gilbert.

“We’re having a great turnout. Weekends have had a better crowd size than during the week,” Todd Merkel, creator of the event, said on Sunday.

Gates open at 2 p.m. on weekends and at 5 p.m. on weeknights.

All seven days, there are a handful of food vendors next to one another and by several fire pits and seating areas.

“I have been here morning, noon and night since Black Friday,” said Jeff Tresslar, who runs Teddy’s Kitchen.

His stand has soups, grilled cheese - that can be made with tomato, bacon or ham - pulled pork, hamburger bean bake, cookies and hot cocoa.

Teddy is the nickname given to him by his workers. He used to have the Market Café at the Mahoning Valley Farmers Market.

The other food vendors offer hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, deep fried Oreos, cotton candy, funnel cake, caramel apples, popcorn, beverages and hot cocoa.

For years, Merkel has created an elaborate Christmas lights display known as Stoney Ridge Lights at his home on Mauch Chunk Road in Palmerton.

He wanted a bigger location, and he wanted more decorations to display. He brought his love of lights to the West End.

It includes more than 100,000 lights and nine mega trees sequenced to music.

“I love the lights and the fact that you can walk around the fairgrounds. Some places, it is just a drive-thru option,” said Rebecca Robtoy, one of about a dozen vendors who has a table inside the large, heated tent.

She sells LuLaRoe leggings and fashion accessories, along with pop-it fidget toys and reversible plush octopus toys.

Her stand is next to Angelika DeFrancesco, who owns Country Pleasures.

“I sell homemade fresh from the farm jams, marmalades, applesauce, tomato sauces, and wing sauces,” said DeFrancesco. “I use family recipes.”

She makes everything from her home kitchen in Andreas. She takes care of the fruit part of the farm, which does not use pesticides.

“I had a good growing year, except for the grapes because of the lanternfly,” she said.

Camp Papillon, an animal shelter in Snydersville, has a table with shirts for sale and information about its fundraisers throughout the year.

“We foster and rescue animals. The organization is run by Gerry Papillon and named for her mother, Patsy Ann Papillon,” said volunteer Linda Dillon.

Malissa Kuzma has Paparazzi jewelry for sale at her table.

“Sales have been OK so far,” she said. “I have jewelry for women and girls.”

The Lazy Flamingo Boutique has women’s clothing and accessories, signs, wine mix and scarves.

Other vendors have political merchandise, dog treats, candles, decorations, pickles and toys.

In the other heated tent is a bounce house, where kids can bounce for a few minutes. The cost is $2 per kid.

Besides walking through the fairgrounds, guests can ride the miniature train for $2 per person. Tickets are available at the table next to the bounce house.

“I had a long line on Friday (Dec. 10), we were packed. As one group unloaded, the next group got on,” said conductor Ricky Cilbrith.

The train is owned by his boss, Dean Gumbert, and Cilbrith has been the one giving the rides since the festival opened on Nov. 26.

Strings of multicolored lights are around the perimeter of the walkways. Behind them are various scenes, including the Nativity scene with Mary and Joseph and the animals; the Grinch, his dog Max, and Cindy Lou Who; cows in front of stalks of corn that light up and appear to be dancing; a large blue lake of lights on the grass with fishermen holding poles and a fish dangling from a line; a lighted tunnel to walk through; gingerbread men and gingerbread house; penguins, igloo and polar bears; and Santa and his reindeer.

The festival had to close on Saturday due the inclement weather and severe wind.

“I am keeping up with the wind damage from last night. I had a few hours of work to do after the storm,” said Merkel, referring to parts of his display that had been knocked over or damaged in other ways.

Bob Silliman, coordinator of the Carbon County Fair’s Kris Kringle Fest - said the two large tents were loose and had to be secured on Sunday.

“Except for the wind, everything has been going well. The lights are incredible. Merkel and his committee did a great job,” said Silliman.

Kris Kringle Fest was in conjunction with the light festival for the past two weekends.

Jameson Hockenbury, 2½ years old, was very excited and just had to stop by twice to visit Kris Kringle and have his photo taken, said his mom, Davey Hockenbury.

“Interaction with the kids has been good, but not the same due to COVID,” said Nick Hawkey, who portrays Kris Kringle.

Hawkey has been volunteering for 51 years as Santa/Kris Kringle and donates any money he receives for the gig to charities such as Salvation Army and Pleasant Valley Ecumenical Network.

His chair is behind a sheet of plastic on three sides. In front, there are baskets containing coloring books, crayons and candy canes for each child to take.

One parent seemed upset at first by the plastic sheets, but Hawkey explained the reasoning: “If one child with COVID-19 sits on my lap, I could potentially spread that to 1,000 other kids and take the virus home to my wife. As soon as I explained it, the parent understood and was apologetic.”

Kris Kringle and the craft vendors will return to the light festival this weekend, just in time for Christmas.

“There will not be musical entertainment, but the horse and buggy rides will be back. They are very popular,” Merkel said.

The light festival will run until Dec. 23, and will be closed Dec. 24 and 25.

“We will reopen on Dec. 26 for a few days, probably until Dec. 30, depending on the weather,” he said.