The annual holiday transformation is underway at Turning Stone Resort Casino.

This year, we’re rolling out our largest and most elaborate holiday display ever, with 2 millions LED lights, 160 illuminated trees, more than 4,000 ornaments (some of them are giant!), Upstate New York’s largest Gingerbread Village, and other fun embellishments to help pass along the holiday spirit to guests and the community at large.

Shane Bird, Director of Spa and Environmental Services, and head Elf at Turning Stone, said the result will be magical.

“This is a simple way to give back a little bit to the guests and the community,” he said. “This time of year attracts people from around the region to come in with their families to enjoy the festive decor and holiday touches.”

According to Shane, guests will have a lot more to enjoy this year, as the Oneida Indian Nation invested in new lights and decorations to deploy around the resort, including:

• 2 million LED holiday lights
• More than 4,150 ornaments
• 160 illuminated Christmas trees
• More than 230 feet of holiday garland
• 10 eight foot long ornaments hanging in the Winter Garden
• 84 illuminated light post motifs along the drive into the resort
• Several massive Christmas trees measuring between 24 to 50 feet
• Six oversized illuminated ornaments and ten large illuminated gift boxes

Of course, the guest-favorite attraction of our annual holiday decorations is our Gingerbread Village, which is created entirely of edible sweets by our pastry team. This year’s Gingerbread Village will be even bigger than last year with the addition of one more building. It will be on display near The Commons at Turning Stone through New Year's Day.

We recently caught up with the pastry team to get some numbers about this year’s village. Here’s what they told us the village will include:

• 1,150 small gingerbread pieces
• 1,210 3-inch gingerbread circles
• 1,000 Hershey’s miniatures
• 1,680 NECCO wafers
• 5,100 pinwheel mints
• 1,440 peppermint sticks
• 12 pounds of brownie brittle

Our team at Turning Stone is working furiously to get all the lights and decorations installed in time. There may also be some musical surprises for guests throughout the resort.