Holiday Lights Festival’s Return A Cheerful To End 2020

2020 has been a tough year. A lot of festivals and activities that take place annually in the Binghamton area were canceled due to Covid-19. The return of the holiday lights displays at Otsiningo will be something you can enjoy from the safety and comfort of your car.

A lot of people are looking forward to the holidays just because of the great feeling they get from celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Years. This should make the holidays even more enjoyable.

Years ago, The Southern Tier Independence Center (S.T.I.C.) used to have a drive-through holiday light show at Otsiningo Park in Binghamton called The Hometown Holiday Lights Spectacular. The last year for that event was 2010. After the flood of 2011, there was so much damage done to the electrical system at Otsiningo Park that the Southern Tier Independence Center stopped doing The Hometown Holiday Lights Spectacular.

Well this year, the organizers of Spiedie Fest are putting on what they're calling The Festival of Lights. Tens of thousands of dollars worth of Christmas lights and lighted holiday displays will light up Otsiningo Park once again.

Not only will you get to drive through the park and check out all all the lights and displays, but on certain nights of the festival they will have hot air balloons for night glows, and fireworks are scheduled for a couple of the nights.

The Festival of Lights at Otsiningo Park will take place starting November 20th and run every night through January 10th. The entry fee is $15 per carload for a standard size car or SUV. The money raised from the event will be split between Spiedie Fest, a veterans organization, and to raise money for food banks in the Binghamton area.

I remember driving through Otsiningo Park for The Hometown Holiday Lights Spectacular years ago. We used to volunteer at the booth to collect the money for S.T.I.C. and we would pass out candy canes to all the members in the car. I love Christmas lights and I thoroughly enjoyed driving through the park and seeing the displays, Especially when there is snow on the ground and the lights reflect off the snow. It would always put me in the holiday mood. I remember being disappointed when I head that event was being done away with.

Being that Spiedie Fest was canceled this summer due to concerns about the Coronavirus, Spiedie Fest organizers came up with this idea. For more information, you can check out the full schedule of dates, times, and when there will be fireworks and night glows by going to the Spiedie Fest website.