Round Rock’s Light Up the Lake returns with changes due to construction at Old Settlers

ROUND ROCK, Texas - Old Settlers Park shimmers and sparkles as thousands of people pack the grounds Friday night for the annual Light Up the Lake.

"We just love this Round Rock park thing that they do every year," said Lyndon Serrano. "It’s a free event so we’re lucky," said Sabrina Serrano.

The more than one million lights bring out families year after year.

"We're originally from Orlando, so we're used to these bigger light displays and stuff and I think around here it’s difficult to find so this one is definitely on par with the like big theme parks in Orlando," said Geoff Chen.

But this holiday season, the event is a bit different.

"We usually walk around the whole lake. I know there’s construction going on, but we accept it- we’re here for fun haha," said Lyndon Serrano.

Construction on the park's new amphitheater, pavilion and bathroom blocked off about half of the lake’s walking trail. All the festivities are staying on the lake’s eastern side.

"I think this may even be an improvement because as you know, going around the lake we were kind of in a circle," said Rick Atkins, Round Rock’s Parks and Recreation Director. "This one is a lot more linear, gives us a little bit wider girth so we’ve got about the same amount of room, but we have just as much-more capacity when you start talking about width so we’ve can get more people in this setting than we have currently."

With so many people, Atkins said safety is top of mind. Just six months ago, Old Settlers Park became the site of a mass shooting at Round Rock’s Juneteenth Celebration.

"We always do emergency operation plans. Doesn’t make the difference in what the event is," said Atkins. "Us and our PD, our fire departments, we always have a plan. Just like we had a plan then, we have a plan now."

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With things looking a little different this year, the city brought out a few more bells and whistles.

"It’s going to tie into the musco truck," said Atkins. "If you never seen a musco truck, if you’ve been to any college football games in America, they do the lighting system so every time they score a touchdown down they do the blinking lights, flashing lights so that’s going to be another cool feature."

For the families here, not even a little bit of construction could dim the holiday sparkle.

"I like that I get to hang out with my friends, snacks, going to walk around, I like to see the lights," said Autumn Chen.

The celebration continues on Saturday from 6-9:30 p.m.