Holiday Light Displays in Northern Virginia

Bull Run Festival of Lights
Centreville, VA
Friday, November 30 through Monday, December 31
5:00 PM to 9:30 PM daily
Monday – Thursday: $15/car; $25/van (15-34 people); $50/bus (35+ people)
Friday – Sunday: $20/car; $30/van (15-34 people); $55/bus (35+ people)

The Bull Run Festival of Lights is the area’s only drive-through holiday light show. Held in the Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, this huge display features over 75,000 LED lights and offers over 2.5 miles of animated, lighted displays.

Some of the displays include “The 12 Days of Christmas,” “Salute to the Season” featuring a huge Toy Land arch leading to animated toy soldiers, gifts and Santa’s elves, “Winter Woods” depicting woodland creatures in the snow, “Candy Land” with delicious candy displays surrounding scenes from fairy tales and children’s stories, and the drive ends with Santa in his sleigh with his reindeer.

The Bull Run Festival of Lights also has a Winter Wonderland Holiday Village, with a carnival, ice skating rink, sleigh rides, a Christmas tree farm and various food and gift vendors. And Santa will be there of course, to take pictures with the kids.

The best time to visit is at dusk, when digital photos will come out the best.

www.BullRunFestivalofLights.com
(703) 352-5900

Holiday Boat Parade of Lights
Alexandria, VA
Saturday, December 1 and Sunday, December 2
5:30 PM to 6:30 PM

This holiday event features dozens of boats decorated with thousands of lights, cruising up the Potomac River from Alexandria Marina (behind the Torpedo Factory Art Center) to Washington Harbor in Georgetown.

Starting at 3:00 PM, there will be entertainment, with school children performing on the deck of the Chart House restaurant, and local artisans showing off their crafts, along with gift items and refreshments. There will be collection boxes for Toys for Tots at all of the stops along the way, and Santa will come ashore in Alexandria to take pictures with the kids. The Washington DC fireboat, The John Glenn, leads the parade and will put on a water show.

The parade continues in Georgetown on Sunday at Washington Harbor, with similar activities beforehand.

Call ahead of time to ask about parking and Metro accessibility.

www.FunSide.com
(703) 838-5005
(202) 687-5677

ZooLights at the National Zoo
Washington, DC
Wednesday, November 28 through Sunday, December 30
6:00 PM to 8:30 PM, Wednesday through Sunday
$ 6.00 for FONZ members
$10.00 for non-members
$20.00 for member family pack of four tickets
Kids under two are free

ZooLights is a very popular winter holiday event in the area, which is why I included it even though it’s not technically in Northern Virginia. The National Zoo will come even more alive, with animated displays of the zoo’s most popular animals, made out of thousands of lights — and starting this year, the lights are environmentally friendly, using only 10% of the energy that regular LED lights use.

As well as the dazzling light show, you can have hot chocolate and get to know a zookeeper, roast marshmallows at a big campfire, listen to storytellers, watch an ice carving demonstration, decorate cookies, learn how to build an animal habitat, make some crafts, and be entertained by a choir.

That is a LOT to do, so you might want to go two or three times! And get there early, so you can enjoy the lights but not miss out on any of the activities.

You can drive there, but you should probably take Metro, since parking is limited and this is a very popular event. Speaking of which, you should buy your tickets in advance as well, since it tends to sell out early.

www.ticketmaster.com
www.nationalzoo.si.edu
(202) 633-3034