Festival of Lights set to open Friday in Aurora

One of Aurora’s holiday traditions returns on Friday with the opening of the popular Festival of Lights at Philips Park, 1000 Ray Moses Drive.

The drive-thru light show will be open from 5 to 9 p.m. every day from Friday, Nov. 28, through Sunday, Dec. 28.

Now in its 19th year, this marks the fourth year the event has been organized by the city of Aurora. The event was previously organized by the Rotary Club of Aurora.

Billed as “the largest free outdoor drive-thru holiday light display in the region,” the approximately 1-mile light show includes over 100 installations depicting ice skating bears, jumping reindeer, a holiday golfer, howling wolves and more which visitors can enjoy while sitting in the comfort of their cars, organizers said.

The last few years have seen in excess of 50,000 cars a year go through Philips Park for the light show.

Kylee Sosa, communications coordinator at the city of Aurora, on Wednesday said city crews have been busy for more than two months getting installations moved and set up at Philips Park.

“We are working with similar installations that we had last year. Things are going to be just as busy as we are counting on a lot of cars showing up,” Sosa said. “We’re probably going to be adding some new installations next year, but for now we’re running with our tried-and-trues.”

Last year, visitors were asked to register in advance before coming to the park, a step that Sosa said has been waived this season.

“This year, we’re not doing any registration so nobody has to worry about that or getting a ticket. All they have to do is show up and have a great time,” she said.

She said the event extends for three days after Christmas in an effort to accommodate more people’s schedules.

“We always understand that the holiday season is busy and everyone’s schedules are packed, so we want to give people those few extra buffer days after Christmas for people to get their last bit of festive experience in before it’s kind of gone and we move on to New Year’s,” Sosa said. “This is so everyone has enough time to get out and enjoy it.”

Sosa said the light show draws people from across the region.

“It’s really awesome to bring people to the city of Aurora for such a festive part of the season and for families to enjoy the holiday,” she said.

“It’s always such a neat experience to go out there and see the families and their smiling faces and they let you know how far they’ve come from Chicago and all the surrounding areas,” she said. “It’s really special to have something like that here in Aurora, and we hope they stay for a little bit and explore the downtown.”

City employees as well as service and not-for-profit groups will be manning collection buckets at the park where donations for the event – which is offered for free – will be accepted.

All donations this year will go back to help with Phillips Park operations and to help maintain the displays for the event, officials said.

“There will be a lot of city staff working this year and on Tuesday we just sent out a post doing a call out for non-profits to sign up and volunteer so we’re excited to open it to those groups,” Sosa said. “It kind of gives them a chance to get the word about their organization and pass out some media material as cars are going by.”

Motorists are asked to enter the event on Smith Boulevard at Fifth Avenue, organizers said. For more information, go to www.aurora-il.org/FestivalofLights.

David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.