It’s the 16th season for the Festival of Lights in Phillips Park, but it’s also a first for the Aurora holiday tradition.
It’s the first year the event is being run by the city of Aurora as a city festival after 15 years as an event organized and run by the Rotary Club of Aurora.
“Rotary spent 15 years building a strong tradition,” said Clayton Muhammad, the city’s chief communications and equity officer.
And many Rotary members helped city crews set up the display, a full mile of drive-thru crowd favorites such as jumping reindeer, ice skating bears, old man winter, howling wolves, the holiday golfer, Santa’s toy factory, and fields of gigantic snowflakes.
Plus, Muhammad said there are new displays this year, included a lighted waterfall down Smith Boulevard, the entryway to Phillips Park on the East Side.
The display opens at 5 p.m. Friday, although CBS Channel 2 in Chicago will actually have its morning show there at 5 a.m. Friday for a preview of the event.
One of the largest free drive-thru holiday light displays in the region, the Aurora Festival of Lights runs from Friday through Dec. 25. The display is open 5 to 9 p.m. every night during its run.
Admission is free, but visitors must register for an entry ticket at www.aurora-il.org/FestivalofLights.
More than 50,000 vehicles visited the festival last year, and voluntary, free-will donations at the conclusion of the event help to provide support to dozens of non-profit and youth organizations in Aurora.
