Nights of Lights Now Has a Fixed Calendar. Getting Downtown Is the Part Still Being Decided.

St. Augustine has stopped setting the Nights of Lights season one year at a time. In March, the City Commission adopted a permanent rule for when the season starts and ends. In September, it sent historic-district businesses a reminder of what their holiday lights may look like. With the dates and the look settled, the only part of the 2026–27 season still undecided is getting into and out of downtown. The City's own review of last season shows which of those pieces worked and which still have trouble.

The Calendar Is Now a Formula

At its March 23, 2026 meeting, the commission approved Resolution 2026-07 with modifications. The season now runs every year from the Saturday before Thanksgiving through Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, observed on the third Monday of January. The City's announcement gives this year's dates: Light-Up! Night on Saturday, November 21, 2026, and a final night on Monday, January 18, 2027.

The adopted rule differs from what was first proposed. Five days before the vote, News4JAX reported that the draft would have run the season from the second Saturday before Thanksgiving through the second Sunday of January. The outlet said the draft was meant to permanently shorten the event, which commissioners had already cut from 65 days to 57 in 2025 after residents raised concerns about crowds and traffic. The final version moved both ends later and tied the last night to the MLK holiday.

The 2027–28 row is not a City-published date. It is plain calendar math under the adopted rule. That is the practical change. Anyone hosting family, booking a holiday dinner downtown or planning work around the season can now look years ahead without waiting for a spring commission vote. According to News4JAX, the resolution itself named shifts in timing caused by natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic and increased tourism as reasons to set consistent dates.

The Look of the Lights Is Also Settled

The second fixed piece arrived on September 26. Action News Jax reported that the commission approved a holiday lighting guidelines flyer for commercial and institutional properties in the city's historic preservation districts. Officials asked for the reminder after recent displays grew in intensity and variety. Critics had said some decorations drifted from the event's traditional purpose of highlighting historic architecture with a warm, consistent look.

The flyer restates City Code Section 3-23 (e) (6):

• Warm white or clear lights only.
• Allowed: wrapping pillars, staircases, tree trunks and canopies, and outlining windows, doorways, rooftops and archways.
• Not allowed: flashing, moving, colored or bright-white lights, and LED displays.
• Not allowed: inflatable, mechanical, cartoon character and figurine decorations.
• Floodlights and spotlights must be aimed away from neighbors, drivers and pedestrians.
• Lights installed below 10 feet must come down within 30 days after the season ends.

The technical specs go down to C-7 bulbs with nickel backing on 18-2 commercial-grade line. With the dates and the look of the lights decided, the commission's remaining Nights of Lights work this fall is logistics.

What Last Season's Numbers Show

The most detailed public account of the 2025–26 season is City Manager David Birchim's presentation to the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council on May 18, 2026. It is in the TDC agenda packet. The presentation first lists what went wrong in 2024–25. A $20 all-day garage rate "did not discourage parking," free shuttles ran on only 12 nights, and the downtown STAR Circulator stopped at 5 p.m. The fixes for 2025–26 doubled the garage rate to $40 during shuttle hours and ran shuttles on 33 days. They also extended the STAR Circulator to Anastasia Island from 5 p.m. to midnight for 56 nights and raised parking citations from $35 to $100.

Here is how the 2025–26 season compared, using the City's figures:

Two results in that table stand out. Even at double the price, the garage filled and closed more often than the year before, and the presentation notes patrons were dissatisfied with the $40 rate. Shuttle ridership grew more than threefold, but riders waited up to an hour to board. Meanwhile, the smaller Anastasia Island STAR route carried more than 16,000 riders with no reported waits. According to the same review, cut-through traffic dropped and traffic moved better in many high-traffic areas.

The review also showed the cost. The City listed $1,201,179 in 2025–26 expenses against $797,282 in TDC revenue support, a net City expense of $403,897. Another $323,051 for barricades was not included in that figure. For 2026–27, the City asked the TDC for $798,900 toward an anticipated $1,100,900 in total expenses.

What Neighbors Told the Commission

The same March 23 meeting that set the dates opened with a resident survey from the St. Augustine Neighborhood Council. According to the meeting video and transcript, the survey went to 12 neighborhood associations on January 20 and closed February 8. It drew 443 responses, and 93% came from full-time residents.

The answers point both ways:

• 60% said they attended on purpose.
• Compared with the year before, 49% rated the season much or somewhat better, 29% about the same and 22% somewhat or much worse.
• 62% said Nights of Lights has exceeded its capacity, and 24% said it is at capacity.
• 89% said the event puts tourism ahead of quality of life.
• Traffic, access to homes and parking were the most heavily affected quality-of-life factors.

The survey suggests the 2025–26 changes made a difference that most respondents could feel: nearly half rated the season better. But a large majority still think the event has outgrown the city, and the factors they ranked highest are the same parking and access questions the 2026–27 plan has yet to settle.

The 2026–27 Plan Is Still a List of Recommendations

The City's March announcement covered dates only, and the research for this post turned up no City-issued 2026–27 parking and shuttle plan. The closest thing available is the list of recommendations in the May TDC presentation:

1. Keep using multiple shuttle lots every day.
2. Adjust shuttle service to match high-demand days.
3. Keep the Anastasia Island STAR Circulator and look at expanding it.
4. Add the City seal to permit-area parking signs.
5. Re-evaluate mixed-use streets and consider adding more nearby neighborhoods to permit parking.
6. Keep workforce parking at the Toques and Granada lots while re-evaluating the Flagler Garage.
7. Continue the Avenida Menendez and Cathedral Place pedestrian and traffic controls.
8. Keep higher enforcement and the higher citation cost.

These are recommendations, not an adopted operating plan. No City notice found for this post gives the 2026–27 garage rate, permit hours or the process for getting resident tags. For comparison, last season's City notice of November 5, 2025 let residents download an application or pick one up at Customer Service, then return it by email or in person. Qualifying residents received up to four hangtags per property by mail. Visit St. Augustine's parking page lists resident-only hours for Flagler Model Land, Abbott Tract and Uptown from November 21 through January 18, 2027. That page carries a 2025 date, and the City has not confirmed it. Last year the City's detailed operations notice came out in early November.

Light-Up! Night, Saturday, November 21

The Visit St. Augustine listing for Light-Up! Night uses the same two locations as last year. Admission is free, and the event runs from 4:00 to 7:30 p.m.:

• 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. Showtime USA at Parque de Menendez and City Hall.
• 5:30 p.m. The All-Star Orchestra at the Plaza gazebo.
• 6:30 p.m. The lighting countdown.

Cathedral Place is closed to vehicles from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., with no parking there all day. There is also no parking all day on the north, plaza side of King Street between Cordova Street and Avenida Menendez. For Light-Up! Night, the visitor bureau lists two Anastasia Island shuttle lots: R.B. Hunt School and Anastasia Baptist Church.

For the weeks after opening night, the visitor bureau's 2026 tour listings include:

• Pink Culture's "The Grinch Who Stole Pinkmas," leaving from the Pink House at 101 Orange Street.
• Tasting Tours' Grinch, Santa and Scrooge rides from 47 Cordova Street.
• Old Town Trolley tours from the Visitor Information Center.
• Ripley's Red Train tours from Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum.

For more of the city's seasonal calendar, see how St. Augustine's September music calendar changed this year, or browse the St. Augustine neighborhood guide.

If you own near the historic district, what Nights of Lights costs you is mostly about access to your home: permit zones, closed streets, and whether your block is one of the "adjacent neighborhoods" the City is thinking of adding. Jean Pickett keeps up with these decisions season by season and can explain how they affect a specific street. Schedule a free consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.