Manito Park Christmas light show switching to walk thru only; display will be in Duncan Garden

Conceived as a way to celebrate the season at a time of great concern, the Manito Park Holiday Lights display gave drivers a chance to safely enjoy the park during the COVID-19 pandemic. But this year, the show will only be accessible on foot.

Kelly Brown, executive director of Friends of Manito, said organizers had been scaling back the drive-thru hours for drivers to enter the park and cruise through the lights in favor of walkers during the past couple of years.

This year, the show is going walk-thru only when it opens Dec. 14, running through Dec. 22 from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. each day.

“With only minimal staff and volunteers, and the popularity of the walk-thru … we decided to make it only a walk-thru event,” Brown said.

The light show began in 2020. Because of masking mandates and social distancing efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, organizers first made the event available for drivers to visit the park and view the lights.

“That’s really the reason we made it drive-thru to begin with,” she said. “We were trying to come up with a solution for our historical light show. As people could get out and about, we are moving it back to a walk-thru.”

The show’s success caused traffic headaches as drivers would line up and clog intersections around the South Hill park to see the lights from their cars, trucks and vans, she said. She noted that only two nights were made available for drivers in 2023.

“We didn’t anticipate in 2020 that 66,000 people would come through,” Brown said. “Last year, we had 75,000 people. I think the community loves it and looks forward to it.”

Other than the holiday attractions at Riverfront Park, Spokane doesn’t have many other public options like Manito, she said.

“This is quite significant for Spokane,” Brown said. “People have come to add this to their holiday traditions.”

The other major change in the show for 2024 is that the lights will be concentrated in one area: Duncan Garden.

“This year is completely different. We are moving the light show exclusively to Duncan Garden,” she said. “It will look really cool with all the arborvitae lit up. It will be the same amount of displays and lights, but all concentrated to one spot.”

The event will also feature different food vendors and hot drinks.

“It should be a good, family-feel event,” Brown said.

Organizers also are featuring winter family disco night on Dec. 20. The next day, on Saturday, Santa will arrive and be available for photos.

On Sunday, the last night of the event, the light show will feature live music, Brown said.