It’s all about the twinkle, that soft shine that sinks its gentle glow deep this time of year, and Mary Beth Hughes has perfected the mood-altering makeover inside Oglebay’s Wilson Lodge.
Hughes is the owner of Hughes Design & Gift Galley at 600 National Road in Wheeling, and she’s been the interior artist for the Wheeling Park Commission for more than two decades. Soon every corner and cranny of the 258-room hotel, the White Palace at Wheeling Park, and a few of the 54 snuggled cottages will be dressed properly for the upcoming holiday season.
More than 100 trees and wreaths decorated with countless ribbons and ornaments are inside Wilson Lodge alone, but when it comes to the number of lights, there’s a fun debate among a few members of the Hughes design team.
“You know, I’ve never counted the number of lights we use,” admits Mary Beth, once the designer for the Elby’s restaurant empire.
“It’s gotta be,” insisted employee Janet Gordon, “more than a million.”
“You think?”
“Gotta be,” maintained Gordon.
“Well, I can say having a million lights wasn’t the goal when I received the first phone call about coming up (to Wilson Lodge) to talk about what I would do here at the lodge during the holiday time, and I knew it was an incredible chance for me to use what I know at this wonderful place,” Hughes said. “A gentleman named John Morrison is who called me the first time about it, and he told me then they wanted to go away from a Disney-themed décor to something more traditional.
“So, I came up and a group of people showed me the areas they wanted to be decorated, and initially, we concentrated on the lodge’s lobby area, and they really liked what I had to say,” she said. “I thought then and I still believe today the only way to decorate Wilson Lodge for the holiday season is a traditional theme. The deeps woods and fireplaces here lend themselves to that theme so well.”
Along with Gordon, the design team includes Linda Ceterolli, Cindy Flanagan, Crystal Flanagan, Donna Glass, Heather Hohman, Kay Knowlton, Carol McLaughlin, Sandy Mellott, Francesca Meluzzi, Denise Mull, and Rita Wilcox.
“There is a different crew of employees who work on the Festival of Lights, and then I have about 10 or 12 people who help me with Wilson Lodge,” Hughes said. “I remember thinking at the very beginning how in the world I was going to decorate this place all by myself. I was totally overwhelmed but I would never have said no to the chance to decorate this lodge.
“Thankfully, I have found some wonderful ladies to assist me with everything, and they are outstanding. Most of them have been with me for several years, so when we come here, we talk about what we want to do, and some of it is the same as last year, but some is new, too,” she explained. “There are big differences between ‘display’ and ‘design’ when it comes to what they do outside and what we do here, and I think we all needed to make that distinction at the beginning.”
Much More Than Ho-Ho-Ho
The process takes every moment of a five-week process with a strict deadline in place – “Light Up Night” for Oglebay’s 40th annual Festival of Lights has been scheduled for November 7.
Former general manager Randy Worls partnered in 1985 with the late Ross Felton, the chief executive of WWVA and Jamboree USA, to launch a holiday-themed light display that reinvented the hilltop resort at a time when occupancy at the hotel was in the single digits. The event areas been expanded through the years and now the Festival of Lights offers over 300 acres and more than 100 displays that celebrate religions, cultures, and country along a six-mile driving tour.
“Trust me, there will be last-minute changes all the way up until the final moment because I am constantly looking at everything,” Hughes explained. “In some areas, less will be more, and that takes a lot of looks to make sure we’re accomplishing what we want. Plus, we’ll be placing a 12-foot wreath on the outside that will be full of lights.
“That’s because sometimes, we decide that less is not enough,” she said with a smile. “There’s a balance, and it’s a fun challenge every year. It’s something I think about all year, and sometimes I’ll come to Wilson Lodge just to look around so I have some new ideas for when we get started. It has to be very special for the people who stay here, and for the people who just visit the lodge because it’s a special place.”
Each of the lodge’s mantles own different themes with more classic designs in the lobby area while more exaggerated holiday themes appear in other areas like the Glessner Auditorium.
“There’s a lot of sparkle and not as many large ornaments in the lobby like we do in the Hickman Lounge, too. We like there to be lot of larger pieces on the mantle in the lounge because of the live entertainment that’s there, and Santa visits there, too,” Hughes said. “Heather Hohman is the one who does the Hickman mantle because she’s terrific with that kind of display, and the Glessner is a winter wonderland where we have more than 70 fully decorated trees.
“All of our ladies have great ideas, and sometimes we have to debate what to do here and what to do there, and I listen to every single idea until a final decision is made,” she said. “There have been times when I’ve not liked something and it’s had to be changed. That’s the process we’re in right now.”
For Hughes, whether it’s Wilson Lodge, an office interior, or a private home, it’s pure beauty that rests in every project’s details.
“It’s something I stress every year because that’s what makes the decorations so special. If there is a leaf on a tree that needs to be turned over, then it needs to be turned over. And if some of the lights go out, they must replaced immediately,” the designer explained. “We have to fluff here, and tamp in other places, and all of us have to pay attention to how it all flows.
“That’s the case during the entire time the decorations are in place. I don’t decorate and just leave. What we do here takes time to put into place, but it takes maintenance, too,” Hughes said. “I’m very particular about the details because they make all of the difference. Some people say to me, ‘It’s fine. It’s fine.’ Well, it’s not fine until it gets fixed.”
That’s a team attitude, too.
“We all take turns walking through everything we’ve done here at the lodge, at Wheeling Park, and the cabins, so that we can be sure every single detail is taken care of before we say we’re finished. That’s because, once we’re finished, the lights stay on the entire time.
“They’re never shut off until we come in to take it all down,” Hughes revealed. “It’s a long process in the beginning and I absolutely love it, but then it only takes us about a week or so to take it all down, so I hope everyone comes here, enjoys the new restaurants (Trace Chophouse and Skyline Kitchen & Bar), so it’s my hope that our work adds something to everyone’s holiday season. I know it does for me.”
