The St. Augustine City Commission approved a resolution March 24 to shorten the Nights of Lights holiday festival by five days compared to its length last year.
The festival will be 57 days from Nov. 15 through Jan. 11, 2026. The dates are in effect for one year.
The vote was 3-2, with Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline and Commissioners Jim Springfield and Jon DePreter supporting the dates. Vice Mayor Barbara Blonder and Commissioner Cynthia Garris opposed them.
The 2024-25 festival ran 62 days from Nov. 23 through Jan. 26. The 2023-24 festival was 78 days from Nov. 18 to Jan. 28.
A resolution sponsored by Blonder originally sought to shorten the festival to 43 days from Nov. 22 through Jan. 4 to support St. Augustine residents’ quality of life by removing traffic congestion brought on by the event.
Garris argued the festival should run until after Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, which would end it Jan. 19.
According to the city code, it “allows the City Commission to set the dates for illumination standards for seasonal light displays in the historic districts during the period between the first Saturday in November until the first Sunday of February in the ensuing year.”
Dozens of speakers during public comment urged the Commission to reject Blonder’s proposal. They represented the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners, St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, the county’s tourist development council, the Casa Monica Hotel and Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille, among many other businesses.
Four residents spoke.
County Commissioner Anne Taylor, whose district includes downtown St. Augustine, said that while she has received many emails about Nights of Lights, none expressed a desire to shorten it.
“Many expressed frustration about parking, but I did not receive one message suggesting Nights of Lights be shortened at all,” she said. “So out of all the suggestions I’ve received, that one was not mentioned. In fact, since shortening the duration has come up I’ve actually heard from residents that shortening it will actually make it busier and have the opposite effect.
“Local residents like myself enjoy the option of going later in January after the holiday. We do all we can to avoid the busier times when there are more visitors. We love having that option.
“I also want to remind everyone that the number one industry in our county is tourism. It is tourism, so we need to support this industry. We need to think about the employees. We need to think about the business owners that will be affected by this and the loss of income. Most employees do not live here in the city limits, and they will be detrimentally affected if this goes through.”
Businesses who later spoke agreed, adding that the Nights of Lights helps shoulder expenses when business would otherwise be slow following the holidays.
Mike Head, representing the Columbia Restaurant and its 200 employees, called the festival an “economic driver.”
“It drives business when hospitality businesses typically see a lull those last few weeks of January, and yet here they all still come,” he said. “Yes, we need to come up with ingenious ways to move and park and transport visitors and locals, but we should not tell them to stop coming.”
Commissioners and speakers agreed that managing traffic flow brought on by Nights of Lights tourism is the primary area needing improvement.
“I think this will work, but will only be OK if we work diligently on the mobility and safety issues,” said Sikes-Kline.