The “Candy Cane Wonderland”, an annual drive-through Christmas display created by Michael Adams at his McColl, S.C. residence, closed for the season on Monday.

An exuberant Adams reported on the record attendance and his future plans for the project. He is also seeking the owners of some valuable objects left in the donation box by mistake.

“It was wonderful,” Adams said as he recalled the two-month event held at his home on Family Farm Road. “Words can’t describe the feeling I’ve had to see the cars come through the yard with kids eager to see Santa Claus and the Christmas displays. Everything went smoothly this year with very few problems.”

Adams, who opened his display Nov. 7, averaged between 100 to 500 cars a night and well exceeded last year’s total of 5,000 visitors.

“The weekends were especially busy, as was Tuesday nights for some reason,” Adams said. “In the end, I estimate that we had about 10,000 visitors overall.”

By creating a drive-through Christmas display, Adams fulfilled a lifelong dream to replicate a similar presentation in Hartsville, S.C. he often visited as a child.

“I loved the lights and the colors, and the fact that you could stay in your car and drive through to see it. It became a childhood dream of mine to duplicate the display.”

Adams will be introducing new items into next year’s display, thanks in part to a donation from the town of Gibson.

“The town purchased new Christmas displays, so they donated the lighted wreaths and reindeer that had been fixed to telephone poles in years past,” he said. “I rewired them, and they will be among the displays next year. I’ve already purchased items for Christmas, 2009, so I hope the display will be bigger and better as time goes on.”

In addition to thanking the Laurinburg Exchange for their coverage, Adams acknowledges his family, his neighbors, and the thousands of spectators who passed through the circle drive of his yard to admire his creations. Many of these visitors left donations that have allowed Adams to pay the large electric bills that are inevitable with a display of this size.

More than money was left by a couple of admirers. Adams is searching for the owners of two items mistakenly left in his donation box.

“One is a middle school ring from Sycamore Lane, and it has the owner’s initials engraved in it. The other is a Richmond Community College nursing school pin, which has a date. If the owners will call and identify the inscriptions, I will be happy to return these items to them.”

Adams can be reached at 843-479-4376.

“I thank everyone for their generous donations that have allowed me to continue this effort,” he said, “but it’s not about the money. People may not realize it, but I get just as much enjoyment from doing this as they get from visiting the display. Seeing the reactions from everyone makes every ounce of the work I put into it worth the effort.”