BRUNSWICK — Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer saved Christmas by guiding Santa’s sleigh. Now another Rudolph is lighting the way in Brunswick.

Mitch Rudolph, the owner of Excal­ibur Auto Body in Medina Township, donated $10,000 to keep the city’s Christmas light display going this year after the city announced in July it would not be able to pay for it.

Parks and Recreation Director John Piepsny said Rudolph heard the city would not be able to supply the funds for the lights display and offered to help.

“We really appreciate the generos­ity of Excalibur,” Piepsny said. “I know the residents really look forward to the holiday decorations every year and it’s really great that we’ll be able to do this.”

Rudolph could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The money will go toward repairing damaged snowflake lights that adorn utility poles on Center Road.

Piepsny said at least 23 of the 99 power boxes needed to light up the display do not work, and the cost to repair each would be at least $250.

He said his department has not had time to check the boxes since last year, so there may be more than 23 that do not work.

In addition to the $5,750 to fix the 23 boxes, Piepsny said other costs include about $3,500 for repairs to broken snowflakes, the labor to put up the displays and electricity.

“Now that we got this donation in, we’ll start looking at (the snowflakes) and seeing what we have to do to repair them,” Piep­sny said.

He said the goal is to get the lights repaired and dis­played by Thanksgiving.

The snowflakes, about 5 feet in diameter, have been mounted on utility poles around the city for the last five years, Piepsny said.

Other decorations this year will include ground displays that have graced the front of City Hall on Center Road, the Brunswick Community Recreation and Fitness Center, and at Center and Pearl roads.

“There definitely will be a holiday season in Brunswick,” Piepsny said.

Contact Jennifer Pignolet at (330) 721-4063 or jpignolet@medina-gazette.com.

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