Vidalia &8212;The Winter Wonderland of Lights may have gone through a bit of a slump in its sophomore year, but you&8217;d never know it from those who visited.

&8220;Watching the kids&8217; eyes light up when they go through and watching their reaction, it was wonderful,&8221; WWOL committee member Jan Simpson said.

Nearly 2,500 carloads of visitors came through the holiday light display during its Nov. 18-Jan. 1 run, an average of 50 cars a day. Estimates for the 2004-05 festival claimed close to 4,000 cars.

So while the event probably won&8217;t turn a profit for the city &8212; final numbers won&8217;t be available until the expenses are all tallied &8212; Mayor Hyram Copeland said they knew going in that it would be a tough year to try to make a profit.

But it was a good year to make a point.

&8220;After the hurricanes, we were trying to do something positive,&8221; he said. &8220;Even though the numbers may be down, it gave people something positive for the Christmas season. And that was the reason we did it.&8221;

The most positive element of the festival &8212; aside from the success of the Feed the Hungry canned goods night &8212; was the weekend visit SpongeBob SquarePants paid to the wonderland.

More than 400 cars passed through the gate that weekend. That&8217;s more than the number that came to see you-know-who himself.

&8220;SpongeBob outdrew Santa,&8221; Simpson said. &8220;Poor Santa.&8221;

Just as Santa has a whole year to regroup, Copeland plans to get started planning for a holiday festival for the people of the Miss-Lou late in 2006.

He spoke of getting more corporate sponsors on board to host individual displays in the fashion of the old International Paper Christmas display.

Copeland plans to meet with the city&8217;s marketing director Glen McLothin in the coming weeks to work on a plan.

&8220;We may try to get with the sheriff and sponsors and build some bigger, more visual displays,&8221; he said.

An aim would be to get individual sponsors for each display and make the event free to the public.

No matter what the town decides to do next year, it will need the continued support of local business and volunteer workers, Simpson said.

&8220;If it wouldn&8217;t have been for the amount of volunteers to man this and the numerous sponsors, obviously we could not have done this,&8221; she said.