The 12 best holiday light displays across Wisconsin

Get into the spirit of the season by bundling up and checking out the 12 best holiday light displays in Wisconsin.

No matter what you celebrate, it’s hard to resist getting into the festive season that happens at the end of the year. Between the numerous holidays—like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve—there’s always a wide range of holiday events to get people into a festive mood. One of the most fun and beautiful ways to commemorate the season is by checking out a holiday light display. 

Maybe the lawns in your neighborhood are decked out with a few light-up decorations, but it’s unlikely to compare to some of the best displays in Wisconsin, where the surroundings are often illuminated with millions of lights. Most of the holiday light displays also feature additional events, like an opportunity to meet Santa or a festive sleigh ride.

Get into the festive spirit this holiday season by visiting some of the best holiday light displays throughout the state.

Holiday Lights Festival 

Nov. 21, 2024 – Jan. 1, 2025

Downtown Milwaukee

Every year, more than 500,000 bulbs light up downtown Milwaukee as part of the city’s Holiday Lights Festival. The festival is organized by Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District 21, an organization that was established in 1998 to help the community of businesses in the city’s downtown. It’s a wide-ranging festival and isn’t just relegated to one area downtown. The festival’s lights can be found decorating four parks within the city: Cathedral Square Park, Zeidler Union Square, Pere Marquette Park, and Red Arrow Park.

It’s not just holiday lights that leave visitors entertained, either—there’s a wide array of holiday-themed events and activities throughout the festival’s duration, including Jingle Bus Rides, a 40-minute narrated tour of Milwaukee’s downtown, highlighting the main attractions of the festival, as well as breakfasts with Santa on Sundays in December at the Harley-Davidson Museum.

Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Downtown Business Improvement District 21.

Rotary Lights Holiday Display

Nov. 29 – Dec. 31, 2024

410 Veteran Memorial Drive, La Crosse

The holidays are celebrated every year at La Crosse’s Rotary Lights, but this year, there’s something else to celebrate, too. The annual holiday light display is celebrating its 30th anniversary. The display, which features more than 3 million lights, attracts approximately 130,000 visitors per year to the city’s Riverside Park. Visitors can either drive, walk, or take a carriage ride through the display. Carriage rides cost $25 per couple or $35 per family and take approximately 15 minutes to wind through the entirety of the light display.

In addition to its abundance of lights, the Rotary Lights event, which runs from Nov. 29 through Dec. 31, offers kids a chance to meet Santa, who will be in the park every night until Dec. 23 from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. There’s also an ice rink, weather permitting, with a free skate rental.

Photo courtesy of Rotary Lights Holiday Display.

Celebration of Lights

Nov. 29 – Dec. 31, 2024

1858 Neunteufel Ave., Oshkosh

After a visit to a holiday light display in Texas, Tom Stephany, the former director of the Oshkosh Parks Department, was inspired to create something similar at home. That’s how Celebration of Lights, an annual holiday light display in Oshkosh, began. The event is held on the grounds of the EAA Aviation Museum and is open daily from 5:30 p.m. until 9 p.m.

Celebration of Lights, which has been running for 23 years, is a popular holiday tradition in Oshkosh—last year, more than 22,000 vehicles drove through the light display, which spans 1.2 miles. It costs $20 for a carload to drive through the display, which features between 3 and 4 million lights, but is $5 off if the carload brings a sealed hygiene or food item to donate. The donations go toward the Salvation Army, as well as several other local non-profit organizations, which are listed on the event’s website.

Photo courtesy of Discover Oshkosh.

WPS Garden of Lights

Thursday-Sunday through December

2600 Larsen Road, Green Bay

During the winter, the Green Bay Botanical Garden doesn’t just have a variety of plants to check out—it’s also home to the WPS Garden of Lights, an extensive holiday light display that runs nearly a mile through the botanical garden. The WPS Garden of Lights has more than 350,000 lights across, fittingly, 40 different nature-themed displays. The light display is open from 4:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Thursdays through Sundays during the entire month of December.

Eventgoers can either purchase walking tickets—which take attendees along a .85-mile long walk through the display—or a wagon ticket that takes attendees along a half-mile walk, followed by a .4-mile long wagon ride. Tickets can be purchased on the Green Bay Botanical Garden’s website, where prices depend on the day. The event has its peak nights, where attendance is higher. On peak nights, adult tickets cost $17 and children’s tickets cost $8. During the event’s value nights, adult tickets cost $14 and children’s tickets cost $5.

Photo courtesy of John Oates Photography.

Enchantment in the Park

Nov. 29 – Dec. 24, 2024

800 N. Main St., West Bend

There are four different ways that attendees can visit West Bend’s Enchantment in the Park, an annual holiday light display with more than one million lights in the city’s Regner Park: driving through the route, taking a small bus, walking through, or taking a carriage ride. No matter how visitors decide to make their way through the light display, there’s a suggested $20 donation that goes toward the future of the light display, as well as local volunteer organizations or a big bag of food to donate to local food pantries.

But while it is a main feature of the nearly month-long event, Enchantment in the Park isn’t just a light display. There are also unique events nearly every day, from live music to visits with Santa on Monday nights, which come with a free cup of hot chocolate. 

Photo courtesy of Enchantment in the Park.

Pleasant Prairie Christmas Holiday Lights Tour

Dec. 12-26, 2024

Multiple locations in Pleasant Prairie

One of the most fun parts of the holiday season is driving around and looking at all of the holiday lights on display in different neighborhoods. The Village of Pleasant Prairie encourages residents and visitors to do that as part of its Pleasant Prairie Christmas Holiday Lights Tour. This year marks the third year that Visit Pleasant Prairie, an organization that markets Pleasant Prairie as a tourist destination, has organized the tour, while the decorations are set up by residents of the village that sits along the border of Illinois.

Residents can enter their well-decorated homes to be included on the tour, and selected homes will be included on a tour map. Visitors who embark on the tour can vote for their favorite homes, and the residents of the top five homes will receive prizes and a trophy.

Photo courtesy of Visit Pleasant Prairie.

Farm of Lights

Nov. 29 – Dec. 31, 2024

40700 119th St., Genoa City

Now that the growing season is over for midwestern farms, some have opted to glow instead, including the Farm of Lights in Genoa City. Spanning a half-mile, the light display has more than 100,000 bulbs, drive-thru tunnels, and massive, illuminated Christmas trees.

The light display is only accessible by car and costs $25 per vehicle to attend. The display is open every night from Nov. 29 through Dec. 31 and opens at 5 p.m. Farm of Lights recommends purchasing tickets online in advance, as some nights do sell out. 

Holiday Fantasy in Lights

Nov. 9 – Dec. 31, 2024

1156 Olin Court, Madison

Of course, Madison’s Holiday Fantasy in Lights has the light displays that you’d expect to see, like a big illuminated snowman and Christmas trees. But there are also Wisconsin-themed light displays, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers and Green Bay Packers football helmets and a brandy old fashioned light display. 

The drive-thru event takes approximately 30 minutes and can be accompanied by music available on the Holiday Fantasy in Lights’ website. The lights are on at the display from dusk until dawn every night, and candy canes are handed out to attendees nightly from 4:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. The event is free but relies on donations to help maintain the annual show. It also relies on a large group of contractors and sponsors.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Slack/Holiday Fantasy in Lights.

Christmas Carnival of Lights

Nov. 23 – Dec. 31, 2024

8425 Highway 38, Caledonia

During the summer, Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Caledonia is an ideal place to camp and explore the great outdoors. Although it’s not as great for camping in the winter, it’s still a perfect place to visit, as it’s the home of the Christmas Carnival of Lights, an annual holiday light display. 

The display runs from Nov. 23 until Dec. 31 and costs $20 per vehicle. Christmas Carnival of Lights is a drive-thru experience, but visitors can also reserve a seat on Santa’s giant sleigh, which seats 43 guests in tiered seating. Alternatively, they can make their way through the light display on board the event’s golf cart holiday train. A sleigh ride costs $14 per person, or $19 per person for a special sleigh ride with Santa in attendance, and the golf cart tour of the display costs $60 per cart. The display also has plenty of events to continue the fun afterward, including ice skating, which costs $5 per person and $7 for skate rental, and a 5K run through the light display on Nov. 29. 

Country Christmas

Select dates from Nov. 15, 2024 – Jan. 1, 2025

2810 Golf Road, Pewaukee

While it’s primarily a drive-thru experience (which costs $25 Sunday through Thursday and $35 on Fridays and Saturdays), there are also select nights when visitors to the Pewaukee-based holiday light display can take a wagon ride through Country Christmas. The display is hosted at The Ingleside Hotel, a hotel and waterpark that sits on more than 40 acres of land. Earlier in Country Christmas’ season, there were special nights when visitors could either walk through or cycle through the holiday display. 

At the end of the trail, attendees can visit Christmas Village, where they can pick up a cup of hot cocoa, check out Country Christmas’ working model train display, or write and send a letter to Santa. Visitors to the event can also stop by during the day to brunch with Santa on Dec. 15 from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Photo courtesy of The Ingleside Hotel.

Rotary Winter Wonderland

Nov. 29 – Dec. 31, 2024

608 W. 17th St., Marshfield

Many holiday events exist for two purposes: to help celebrate the holidays and to give back to those in need. Marshfield’s Rotary Winter Wonderland is no different. The annual holiday light display also serves as a food drive, and over the past two decades, it has provided one million food items and hundreds of thousands of dollars to local food pantries. 

The light display takes place in Marshfield’s Wildwood Park and Zoo and happens every day from Nov. 29 through Dec. 31, as long as there’s no massive snowfall. On Saturdays, there are first-come, first-serve horse-drawn wagon rides that visitors can take through the display. The wagon rides are free, but visitors are encouraged to bring a food item to donate. Santa will also be in attendance at Rotary Winter Wonderland every Thursday through Sunday from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Making Spirits Bright

Nov. 29 – Dec. 31, 2024

3401 Calumet Drive, Sheboygan

With a light display that stretches for just over a mile, Making Spirits Bright illuminates Sheboygan’s Evergreen Park every winter with an assortment of light displays, including a choir of elves and a candy land-themed display. The drive-thru light show is open every day from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. except Dec. 24.  The event is free to attend but relies on cash donations to continue producing light displays in the future. While there’s plenty of fun to be had at the light display, there’s also further holiday-themed events in Quarryview Park on Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 21, where there’s wreath raffles, entertainment, and the chance to visit with Santa. 

The event has been a Sheboygan holiday tradition since 2012, when it first began. Its purpose was to provide a fun, family-friendly holiday event for the community and collect donated food items to stock local food pantries. Over the past 12 years, more than one million pounds of food donated at Making Spirits Bright has been delivered to the Sheboygan County Food Bank.

Photo courtesy of Making Spirits Bright.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.