Starlight Lane at Lumen Field in Seattle, photo by Tash Haynes of Seattle Refined
Last year, the pandemic challenged many of us to re-imagine the holiday season with safe, socially-distant celebrations, and parking facilities provided the perfect opportunity. Many communities utilized parking garages and surface lots to create a unique kind of holiday magic, and in many cases, their success is inspiring even newer and even bigger celebrations for 2021.
In Seattle, Washington, the Lumen Field garage was transformed into a drive-through holiday spectacular, with each floor of the garage decorated with holiday light and laser displays, choreographed to a soundtrack broadcast over a local FM station. Drivers tuned into their radios and enjoyed the display from the safety of their vehicles.
The Light Park utilizes parking lots throughout the state of Texas to create a winter wonderland synchronized to an upbeat DJ mix of holiday music. Each of the four locations showcases more than a million lights arranged in different scenes that visitors drive through to view from their cards, including 700-foot animated LED tunnels.
The Elf on the Shelf’s Holiday Journey came to the Fairplex, in Pomona, California to create a drive-through experience that “shrank” visitors down to elf-size and sent them on a holiday adventure to help repair Santa’s sleigh. The event was so successful, that in 2021 it has expanded to an outdoor experience, and added a new location in Dallas, Texas.
Stadiums and fairgrounds with large, surface lots are the perfect home for Magic of Lights, which creates holiday cheer in the form of drive-through light displays that create favorite holiday scenes and characters throughout the country, including Angels Stadium in Anaheim, California.
How is parking helping celebrate your holidays this season? Let us know!
