Arlington's Holiday Light Displays: Parades and Annual Festivities

Arlington, Texas, and the surrounding areas have some truly beautiful holiday light displays. Most of them are free, and the others are worth the price!

One of the best free light displays will be The Star-Telegram's Arlington Holiday Lights Parade 2007. This year the date will be Saturday, December 8. The event will begin during the day and will be centered downtown on Main Street. It will be reminiscent of long ago Christmases when folks gathered downtown; walked the square; visited with neighbors; shared a cup of hot chocolate; roasted nuts; peered through store windows to see the holiday items; and listened to someone playing and singing holiday tunes. You can do all that and more during the day. There will also be activities to keep the kids entertained. Then at nightfall, the parade will begin. Each float is required to have a 100 light minimum. The parade will start at the corner of Main and Center. There is a map on the site that will give you the exact route of the parade. After the parade, the official lighting of the Christmas tree will be in front of City Hall. Of course, Santa will be stopping by our city that night, so all the kids should come with their lists made out.

About 20 miles from Arlington is Grapevine, Texas. It is home to the well-known Gaylord Texas Resort and Convention Center. It is one of the best sites featuring holiday lights this year. It is free except for parking. It is called The Lone Star Christmas and runs from November 15-January 5. This display features over 1.2 million lights. It also boasts a 40 ft Christmas tree decorated with 10,000 ornaments, an enormous electric train display, Santa, Mrs. Santa, the reindeer, and strolling holiday entertainers. It is inside so the weather is not a factor. This is a great place to take the kids to see a fabulous light display. Even Mom and Dad and Mimi and Pa should enjoy this!
(There is a map for directions on the site.)

A wonderful place to drive through and see holiday lights is "Prairie Lights" in Lynn Creek Park at 5700 Lake Ridge Pkwy in Grand Prairie, which is adjacent to Arlington. This one is not free but the lights are gorgeous. The website has not updated with the 2007 prices yet and has as statement to check back with them later. The display starts on Thanksgiving night. The hours are: Monday-Thursday 6pm-9pm and Friday-Sunday 6pm-10pm. This light display has over 3 million lights. Half way through the drive, you can get out of the car and view many of the displays, have hot chocolate and other treats and have your picture made with Santa. The last part of the drive is through "Texas' largest light tunnel". There is also a 10 minute light show choreographed to music. If you are able to spend money to see holiday lights this year, this one is the one to see.

No list of holiday light displays in Arlington and the surrounding areas would be complete without including the famous Interlochen subdivision of North Arlington. This is an area where all of the home owners have a "competition" each year, which is really just a way for them to give our city a beautiful gift. It is all free and there are many, many streets with each house decorated to the hilt. It is such a successful event that the city and Arlington policemen are involved just to direct traffic. It starts about December 15 each year and goes through the 31st. I do not know how the homeowners continue to do this each year, not only because of the expense that is involved for them, but because of the inconvenience. They are not even able to get in and out of there own driveways because of the traffic. Yet, they continue year after year to gift our city with this wonderful display of lights. Unless you have just moved to the area, you probably know about this one. It is the best free drive-through display you will find. The URL above is the one for the City of Arlington listing of annual events.(See December) The 2007 information has not been posted yet, but the site should be updated soon with a map and other pertinent information.

If your hometown does not have many lights to behold and you live within driving distance of Arlington and the surrounding areas I've listed, come on over. We have enough to share!