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Bright Nights, New England's premier holiday light display, begins 29th season

Cars make the journey along the three-mile holiday light display Bright Nights at Forest Park
Leon Nguyen
/
Spirit of Springfield
Cars make the journey along the three-mile holiday light display Bright Nights at Forest Park

With pandemic-era restrictions gone, carriage rides, choirs, and visits with Santa return

One of the region’s premier seasonal attractions – Bright Nights at Forest Park – returns for a 29th year beginning tonight.

More than 700,000 lights in displays with storybook, historic, and holiday themes are visible along a three-mile route through the city of Springfield’s largest park.

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be activities for people to experience outside of their cars.

WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill spoke with Judy Matt, president of Spirit of Springfield, the nonprofit that produces Bright Nights.

A full schedule and ticket information is at brightnights.org

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.