Every year, Yellow Duck Park near Boardman, Ohio, throws the switch on more than 3.5 million lights when it turns on its annual Festival of Lights display.

Festivalgoers see dinosaurs, attractions from around the world, animated slalom skiers and a scale model of Noah's ark, complete with animals, all made from millions of multi-colored lights.

Looking closely at the ark, visitors can see a fence around it, meant to keep wandering deer out. The ark is located on the park's expansion site, a farm which is home to deer, ostriches and other animals.

"The deer went into the ark and ate all of the lights they could reach," said festival worker Kristen Billings, who designs the light displays, handles public relations and conducts tours. "When I saw that, I just got sick."

The ark has more than 35,000 lights. A lighted parade of animals, marching two by two, line up to enter the ark.

Back in the main park, the Statue of Liberty greets visitors as they drive through the admission gates. Visitors drive through the park, viewing the light creations at their leisure.

"You can't get through the park in less than half an hour," said park owner and creator Len McGarvey. "Some folks can take as much as an hour, hour and a half."

The park started with just 12 light displays in the 1980's, McGarvey said. That year, they bought the displays for the park's Santa Town.

Over the years, the park has grown. Now, countless displays and millions of lights adorn the park's meadows and trees.

A new addition this year is the "Wonders of the World" section, including a scale model of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and a Great Pyramid.

Every day, work crews inspect the lights and see which ones need replaced. There is so much that can go wrong, Billings said, that must be checked every day. Lights can burn out, wind can knock a strand lose, and countless other things can go wrong. It takes several hours to go through and make sure everything's ready for the public to see each day.

Admission to the park is $5 per person, or $20 for a carload of up to seven people.

The trip to Boardman is well worth it. The official innkeeper of the festival, the Holiday Inn -- Boardman, is offering a special package for festivalgoers. For $99, the inn offers an overnight stay at the hotel, with $50 of "fun money" to spend in the hotel. The hotel also gives a free pass, worth $20, to visit the Festival of Lights.

The hotel has won several international awards, and offers an indoor pool and hot tub with a landscaped patio, room service, a restaurant and lounge and a fitness center.

Once in Boardman, there's plenty to do. Shopping abounds in Boardman. Close to Yellow Duck Park, the village of Columbiana offers an entire avenue of antique shops and Das Dutch Haus, a restaurant run by a Mennonite family. Behind the restaurant are more displays of McGarvey's distinctive light works.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Amanda Smith-Teutsch at: ateutsch@sharonherald.com