Last night for Nights of Lights will be Tuesday

St. Augustine’s popular holiday season city-wide event – the famed Nights of Lights celebration – ends on January 31st. Tuesday is the last night for Historic City News readers to enjoy the glow of more than 3 million brilliant white lights this year.

Holiday music and the lighting of the city’s Christmas tree added to the splendor of one of the world’s greatest holiday light displays. The festival started this season on the Saturday before Thanksgiving with a countdown in the Plaza before the lights were officially lit at 6:30 p.m.

The waters of Matanzas Bay have glowed from the nightly reflections of lights strewn along the bay walk and displayed on the Bridge of Lions. The Plaza has shined from the top of trees and throughout the famous center of St. Augustine’s historic district. Ponce de Leon Hotel, now the campus of Flagler College, is outlined in lights. And the Lightner Museum, once a resort hotel also built by Henry Flagler, is lit so brilliantly that it is a favorite among visitors.

Nights of Lights is inspired by the tradition of marking the holiday season with a single white candle burning in a window at each home during the nearly 250 years when St. Augustine served as the capital of Spanish La Florida. Today, Nights of Lights continues that tradition in a grand style reflecting the city’s more than 450 years of history.

Hundreds of thousands of guests toured the many historic landmarks and beautifully illuminated locations during Nights of Lights per the St Johns County Visitors and Convention Bureau.