Nights of Lights Now Has Permanent Dates. Here's What's Still Changing for Locals

"If the business community wants Nights of Lights longer and wants to get more out of it, they have to get the residents to embrace Nights of Lights again," St. Augustine resident and business owner Scott York told News4JAX in March. He said this at the meeting where the city commission stopped treating the season's length as a yearly debate.

The result is that the calendar is now the one part of the season you can count on. What's still changing this year is how people get downtown, where they park, and which parts of the bayfront are open. The rest of this post covers those changes, in order of what you'll need to know first.

The dates are set by a rule now

On March 23, 2026, commissioners voted 3 to 2 on a resolution that sets Nights of Lights dates permanently. Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline and Vice Mayor Barbara Blonder voted no. The first version of the resolution would have ended the season on the second Sunday of January. After community pushback, commissioners amended it so the season runs from the Saturday before Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King Day. The measure fixes those dates without the commission having to revisit them each year.

The season has changed a lot recently. In 2025, commissioners cut it from 65 days to 57 after residents raised concerns about crowds and traffic. Some business owners at the March meeting asked to go back to a 10-week schedule. Aaron Jockers, another resident and business owner, argued that shortening the event won't make visitors stop coming: "We just wanna manage it effectively." The rule the city adopted falls between the shorter and longer proposals.

This year's season runs November 21, 2026 through January 18, 2027. With the rule in place, you can figure out future seasons yourself. Here are the next three, worked out from the Thanksgiving and MLK Day calendars:

Only the 2026-27 dates have been officially announced. The later rows are just the rule applied to the calendar. Still, if you're scheduling out-of-town guests, booking a contractor, or planning a downtown dinner reservation two winters out, you can now work from a date instead of waiting for a spring commission vote.

Parking is still in flux, so start there

Once the dates were settled, the open questions this fall are mostly about parking and transit. Last year's extra spending shows why. News4JAX reported that an additional $850,000 went into crowd management and safety for last year's event, and Assistant City Manager Meredith Breidenstein said officials felt it was money well spent. That reporting doesn't break down what the money paid for, so this year's plan can't be predicted line by line.

Here's what's documented as of early October.

The garage gap is large, and resident registration closes most of it. Visit St. Augustine's 2026/27 parking guide lists the Historic Downtown Parking Garage at 1565 Cordova at $20 on non-shuttle days or before 1 p.m. on shuttle days, and $40 for entry at or after 1 p.m. on shuttle days. According to the City's parking FAQ, St. Johns County residents who register with ParkStAug pay $3.00 per garage entry and $0.50 an hour at City meters. All county residents qualify. You can apply online by uploading photos of your driver's license and vehicle registration, which typically takes about two weeks to process, or in person at 50 Bridge Street with your license, registration and proof of residency. You don't need the app. A registered license plate is enough. The two-week processing time is why it's worth registering in October rather than the week before Light-Up! Night.

The resident-only streets have 2026 dates. The tag process hasn't been updated yet. The visitor bureau's guide lists street parking restricted to residents and their guests from November 21 through January 18, 2027, in three neighborhoods near downtown:

• Flagler Model Land Company, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Abbott Tract, 1 to 9 p.m.
• Uptown, 1 to 9 p.m.

Cars without a resident Nights of Lights tag can be fined $100. The only published instructions for getting the hangtag are from last season's City notice. For 2025-26, residents downloaded an application or picked one up at Customer Service at 50 Bridge Street, then emailed it to [email protected] or dropped it off. The City mailed up to four hangtags per property address. That notice also said the Downtown Historic District and adjacent zones that already had permits didn't need a separate seasonal one. No 2026-27 version had been posted as of this writing, so treat those steps as last year's process until the City updates them.

Park-and-ride details haven't been released. The visitor bureau's page says it doesn't yet have 2026/27 shuttle information. Last season, free satellite parking ran from Broudy's Lot at 198 West King Street, the North San Marco Lot at 301 San Marco Avenue, and the St. Johns County Health Department at 200 San Sebastian View, with pickup at the Visitor Information Center at 10 S. Castillo Drive. Those were 2025 locations. They may well return, but they haven't been confirmed.

The free trolley now crosses the bridge every day

The newest change has nothing to do with the holidays. On September 25, the City announced that the free STAR Circulator was extending its route beyond the downtown historic district. The loop starts at the Visitor Information Center, stops at Avenida Menendez and Hypolita, then at Cathedral Place and Cordova Street, and continues to Anastasia Island. There it adds 15 stops along Anastasia Boulevard and A1A Beach Boulevard in St. Augustine Beach before returning to Cathedral and Cordova and the VIC.

Daily service on the expanded route was scheduled to begin Thursday, October 1. It runs 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It's free and operated by Historic Tours of America's Old Town Trolley.

This matters for the holidays because of how the STAR used to work. In past seasons it only reached the island at night during Nights of Lights. For 2025-26, the STAR stopped running downtown at 4 p.m. and switched to an Anastasia Island evening route that dropped riders at 201 Gerado Street, on the east side of the Bridge of Lions. Now there's a daily, year-round connection between the island and the downtown core, already running seven weeks before Light-Up! Night. The City hasn't said whether the STAR will change its pattern again during the 2026-27 season. Until it does, the published route and hours are what you can plan around.

The fort's waterfront is a construction zone all season

The bayfront itself is also changing. The National Park Service says its Castillo de San Marcos seawall project will replace, raise and rehabilitate failing seawalls. New, higher walls are planned north and south of the fort, and the historic central seawall directly east of the Castillo will get preservation treatments. Mobilization started July 27, 2026, and the work is expected to take about 18 months. The fort stays open to visitors while some areas of the grounds are closed for construction safety. On that schedule, construction runs through this entire Nights of Lights season and into early 2028.

NPS hasn't published a map of which grounds are closed. The clearest sign of the impact so far is a rerouted parade. The Colonial Night Watch on Saturday, December 5, 7 to 8 p.m., now starts at the Visitor Information Center because of the seawall construction around the Castillo. The procession goes through the City Gate and down St. George Street to the Governor's House at the Plaza, with a "Volley of Joy" and carols. The Oldest House Museum hosts a free encampment that weekend, with public activities Friday afternoon and Saturday during the day.

If your usual evening walk follows the water north past the fort, plan on detours this winter.

Dates to put on the calendar now

Here's what's confirmed so far, in order:

1. Saturday, November 21: Light-Up! Night. Showtime USA performs outside City Hall at 4 p.m., the All Star Orchestra plays the Plaza gazebo at 5:30, and the lights come on at 6:30, with music continuing until 7:30. That's six calendar days later than the November 15 start in 2025, a direct effect of the new rule.
2. Saturday, December 5: Colonial Night Watch, 7 to 8 p.m., on the rerouted course from the Visitor Information Center.
3. Nightly through the season: Old Town Trolley's light tour leaves the Visitor Information Center at 6 p.m., and Ripley's Santa's Red Train departs from Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum. To see the lights from the water instead of the crowded seawall, Florida's Historic Coast lists Schooner Freedom, Red Boat Tours, St. Augustine Eco Tours, Florida Water Tours, Scenic Cruise, St. Augustine Boat Tours, St. Augustine Sailing and Fury Water Adventures.
4. Monday, January 18, 2027: last night of the season, on Martin Luther King Day, as the new rule requires.

Still unconfirmed for 2026: the Christmas Parade date, park-and-ride lots and hours, and this season's hangtag application. If they follow last year's timing, the City's shuttle notice came out in mid-October and the residential permit notice in early November.

If you're planning holiday hosting or a move around these dates, or wondering how a fixed Nights of Lights calendar affects timing for a downtown listing, Christina McIntosh is happy to talk it through. Let's connect and set up a free consultation before the lights go up on November 21.

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