REINDEER FLIGHT SCHOOL: Annual Christmas tradition takes flight for another season of holiday cheer

Published 5:15 pm Thursday, December 8, 2022

After 18 years of organizing and hosting his beloved Reindeer Flight School, Richard Phillips isn’t sure exactly how many lights stretch across his property in the weeks preceding Christmas. 

By all accounts, that means he’s doing it right.

“I don’t exactly know,” he said of the number. “Someone told me one time if you know, you don’t have enough.” 

He is certain that there are more than 40,000, and it’s also a fact that the display draws folks from far and wide to the area year after year. 

It all began, fittingly, with a reindeer. 

Phillips spent his professional career repairing electronics at his shop in Sparta. One day, a faithful customer came to him with a large reindeer that needed repairs, so he fixed the decoration for her and placed it in her yard. When the lady moved away, she gifted him the reindeer.

“So, I brought the reindeer home and my wife kind of liked it, and the next thing I knew she got a couple somewhere else, and then we got to going around to yard sales and buying them.”

As time went on, more and more customers would bring Phillips Christmas decor to repair, and then later the pieces would wind up back in his care.

“They’d get tired of it, so they’d just give it to me later on, so I just got to adding to it and it got a little bigger and a little bigger,” he laughed. 

Today, the walk-through display features thousands of lights strung upon trees, flying reindeer, candy canes, wreaths, snowflakes, a train, a grand red sleigh and much, much more. 

Phillips and his late wife designed and built most of the pieces, and even the ones that have been bought have been completely revamped. 

“If me and you were to go to the store and buy the same piece, when I come home I take mine apart and add more lights and change it up a little bit, so it’s different from what it would be at the store,” he explained.

He adds or changes something about the display each year. 

“I’ve got regulars, so I’ve got to make something a little different for them,” he said.

Phillips starts getting all of the pieces out in October.

“Because I’m a little older and I’m a little slower,” he laughed. “I check it when I put it up and it will be working, but when you pull it out [there’s] always something that doesn’t come on… I actually work on it all year-round. I take pieces that don’t work when I put them back up and put them in the shop.”

Phillips does about 90% of the work himself, though he does have a few elves in the neighborhood who help with the heavier items.

Santa Claus makes regular appearances at the flight school, and when asked if he plays the part, Phillips answered with a jolly “Ho! Ho! Ho!” That’s one of his favorite parts of it all, and he regularly volunteers at the local library playing the jolly old elf. On a recent day, one little girl hugged him tightly and told him, “I love you so much Santa!”

“Sometimes it’s tough to get up and get all suited up just to go up there for a little while, but when you’ve got one like that it just makes a world of difference. I love kids anyway. I’m just a big kid. Anybody that knows me knows I never grew up,” he laughed.

Those are the moments that matter most to him at Reindeer Flight School as well.

“Oh, it’s just the looks on their faces,” he said. “It just gives me joy just to see the folks smile. You know, they all turn to kids when they come out here. I don’t care how old you are. I tell them…, ‘When you get in my driveway, you turn to 6 years old.’ That’s why I do it. If I put all this up and only one child comes out here and smiles and has a good time, it’s worth it.”

Phillips said he wants everyone to come and enjoy Reindeer Flight School this year, and he wants them to keep one more thing in mind too.

“I want them to remember the real reason for the season is Jesus Christ our Lord. Santa’s just an added attraction.”

Reindeer Flight School will run Dec. 9 through Dec. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. There is no admission, but donations for electricity fees are appreciated. Santa sightings usually happen on Friday and Saturday nights if it’s not raining, and folks are encouraged to check the Facebook page for updates.

The Reindeer Flight School is located at 101 Sportsmans Circle, NE in Milledgeville.