Light fight!
St. Augustine City Commission Vice Mayor Barbara Blonder wants to shorten Nights of Lights from 65 to 40 days—an audacious move that would shrink the Old City’s signature event by more than a third.
Blonder has instructed city staff to draft a resolution that would start the event on Thanksgiving and pull the cord on the first weekend of the New Year—January 5, 2026.
This year, Nights of Lights began on Nov. 23 and lasted until Jan. 26, a span of 65 days.
Blonder revealed her plan at the end of a Monday commission meeting after recounting a conversation with a local resident.
An unnamed complainant told Blonder that someone parked their car in front of her home during the event, delaying her ability to get out by two hours.
She finally had the vehicle towed, prompting the owners to scream at her after returning to find their car missing.
“Same conversation I’ve had with so many of our residents,” she said. “And this is now into March. People have not forgotten about this at all.”
Blonder—who previously called elements of Nights of Lights “gaudy” and pushed for a crackdown—said she plans to sponsor a bill that would shorten the event.
“I’m going to direct staff—this is going to be very controversial—to prepare a resolution temporarily reducing Nights of Lights for the 2025 season from Thanksgiving weekend, ending the weekend after New Year, which would be the fifth of January 2026,” she said. “I want this significantly shortened.”
Blonder said she will sponsor the resolution and push for a seismic vote that would pit St. Augustine’s vocal tourism sector against residents clamoring for quiet.
Critics of Nights of Lights argue that it plunges the city into unmanageable chaos at the expense of locals.
Business owners counter that the bustling two-month stretch serves as a vital financial lifeline that keeps local merchants and their employees afloat.
The city is seeking an external consultant to help it manage Nights of Lights moving forward, but Blonder said that process would not impact this year’s event.
“We can’t just go forward with 2025 and make no changes and expect everything is going to get better on its own,” she said.
In calling for the curtailment, Blonder said a later start avoids overlap with hurricane season.
She also argued that the upcoming closure of the King Street Bridge would exacerbate this past year’s traffic woes.
Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, who said Nights of Lights was bringing St. Augustine to the brink of “over-tourism” at a January meeting, was not present Monday.
The commission will meet again in two weeks.
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