The St. Augustine City Commission has introduced a resolution that would permanently set the annual Nights of Lights schedule from the second Saturday before Thanksgiving through the second Sunday of January each year.
In 2024–25, the lights ran from November 23 through January 26, and in 2025–26 they were held from November 15 through January 11 following city action to shorten the run.
That move clipped a week off of the festival’s duration.
The new resolution states that setting permanent dates would assist with planning and establish community expectations without requiring an annual vote.
Under current city code, seasonal lights may be displayed from the first Saturday in November through the first Sunday in February, but the proposed fixed period is considerably shorter than that maximum window.
Discussion around schedule changes has reflected broader community tensions around the event’s duration.
Some local residents have pressed for a shorter season, saying the prolonged celebration contributed to heavy traffic, congestion, and crowding downtown over an extended period.
Conversely, business owners and tourism advocates have vocally opposed cuts, arguing that a longer Nights of Lights season supports sales, jobs, and the local economy during the winter months.
The resolution states that the action would reduce administrative redundancy by eliminating the need for the commission to vote on the schedule each year.
Vice Mayor Barbara Blonder broached the matter at a January meeting.
“Get that into city code so that we can avoid going back and forth on dates every single year,” she said. “We’ve got work to do. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and spending a lot of time going back and forth on dates, whether I win or lose on this issue, we should encode it and clarify it.”
The matter will be discussed at next week’s City Commission meeting.
