ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – After voting last month to shorten the wildly popular annual Nights of Lights festival because of growing concerns over traffic congestion, St. Augustine city leaders want to hear from the public about other possible changes.
Nights of Lights brings tens of thousands to St. Augustine during the holiday season, but those visitors also bring some holiday chaos when it comes to getting around the city.
At the end of last year’s Nights of Lights celebration, residents poured out their concerns to city officials about the large crowds and hectic traffic coming from the event that typically runs from early to mid November until late January.
In March, city commissioners decided to shorten the 2025 event by eight days. It will now run from Saturday, Nov. 22, through Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026.
Now, the city manager is proposing a series of public engagement meetings to get feedback about how the city is managing Nights of Lights and other large events.
The idea would be to allow a “residential stakeholder group” and a “business stakeholder group” to meet twice separately and once together in the Alcazar Room of City Hall to discuss their concerns.
Residents would meet at 9 a.m. May 20 and 9 a.m. May 27. Businesses would meet at 1 p.m. May 22 and 1 p.m. May 29.
The joint meeting would be at 9 a.m. June 10.
Residents and businesses have been vocal about the handling of the Nights of Lights festival, particularly when it comes to traffic, parking and security.
City Manager David Birchim said these issues were made very clear during last year’s holiday event.
