Festival of Light

I will never. I repeat never wait in that light to drive thru again! it was sooo long. I mean the lights were very pretty and I will go back but not driving thru. As you are driving thru you have to worry too much about all the people and kids walking on the street to really enjoy yourself and most of the time people are standing right in front of the light displays taking pictures for you to really see them.
Save some time and just park then walk through the lights. You will want to do this anyway so you can walk through the bridge and see the animals.

Meh.
I guess when you’re a kid, Festival of Light is amaze balls. But now, as a 28 year old that doesn’t have the same childhood amazement from Christmas lights, I thought FoL was just alright.
*Let me state that I am all about Christmas. My tree was up the day after Halloween. I love all of the decorations, the lights, the trees, the music… all of it.*
FoL just looked hastily thrown together. There were points along the walk where I would see a tree that had a trunk beautifully woven in lights and what ever was left was sloppily thrown up until it hooked on a tree branch. It looked pretty bush league, imo.
But, there were some really neat sections of FoL. I enjoyed the animal exhibits (Who knew camels were so damn soft?!) as well as the famed Crystal Bridge. There were some pretty neat light attractions, but I was never just wow’d during my experience.
If you’ve never been, FoL might be worth a visit just for the experience, but if you have been before, I’d suggest a hard pass.

I try to make it out to Chickasha every year, as I think their light display is one of, if not the best in the state. You can walk or drive through, but I recommend walking. Driving would be too quick for me to make it worth the trip (in our case, from Oklahoma City), and Christmas lights just feel more festive if you’re walking around cuddled up in a coat with some hot chocolate, right? You definitely get a better view of all the lights if you stroll through the park rather than driving, but it just might take a bit to find a parking spot, especially on a weekend. All in all, it is definitely worth the drive to see some beautiful Christmas lights!

So the address on the Unilocal page apparently is for the festival offices? Either way, the festival is not in downtown Chickasha. But thankfully, Chickasha knows we’re only there for the lights, so just follow the blue signs around town. Eventually you’ll find the line of people waiting to get in. The park itself is called Shannon Springs Park, though.
I did not grow up in OK (my parents are what I affectionately call «expat Okies» who peaced out in the 80s) so this was my first time to see the lights here. And the lights are pretty awesome! I really liked seeing all of the displays and had a lot of fun walking through. You can either drive through (with your headlights off, or as off as they’ll be in this day and age of auto headlights on cars) or park and walk through. We ended up driving part of the way and then finding a place to park. Good thing there were food stands on hand, because you’ll definitely want that hot chocolate or cider in your hand!
So for a really great display of lights, you might be wondering why I’m giving 3 stars, but I’m gonna get honest here: I was really uncomfortable with the animals. I’ve been to other types of events with petting zoos, but I have never seen animals look so miserable before. Camels are not meant to sit outside in the bitter cold while tranq’ed up so kids can pet them. There were also camel rides, and frankly, they looked miserable and downright pissed. The camels had bright lights shone on them so that people could see, sure, but seriously? That looked like hell on earth. And don’t get me started on the dozens of geese in the pond who were right by the bridge whose lights were constantly flickering, flashing, and changing. Was this really necessary?
So, go for the fun. Try not to fume at the lack of disregard for other creatures’ well being. Like you do.

How is it possible I never made it to this magical place in all the years I lived in Oklahoma??? Listen everyone, if you want to create some unforgettable memories for your family, MAKE IT A POINT TO GO HERE during the Christmas holiday. You won’t regret it!
We went on the evening of Christmas (¹²⁄₂₅) which is probably the busiest day we could have chosen, but once we actually made it into the park, it was fantastic. I really don’t even know where to begin, but it certainly put us into a very festive mood, and we walked around for over an hour just soaking in all the beautiful displays.
Although Chickasha is about a 40 minute drive from where my parents live, it was totally worth it. It’s free to enter the park, but they do accept donations… which is certainly well-​deserved!
If you get hungry, there’s a cute small little shop in the middle where you can buy coffee, cinnamon rolls, and a few other goodies. We opted out since the line was too long, but good to know they have at least some type of food/​bevi option. Public restrooms are also closeby… always a plus at a public park like this.
Check out my pics and make sure you add this to your list of Christmas things-​to-​do next year!

Loved this place — but I’d recommend going on a week night. We tried to go on a Saturday night and that was a mistake. We never found the end of the line of cars. We left and went back on a Wednesday night, and drove right in.
We drove through it because it was just my Husband and I, but if you have kids, park and get out. You can walk around, and they have animals for the kids to pet, and camel rides too. It also looked like they had hot cocoa. They had carriage rides too.

I have to say that it is nice to see places doing this Christmas light set up for everyone to enjoy, particularly when it seems that fewer and fewer houses are decorated for the holidays.
Chickasha’s Festival of Lights is nicely done. I can’t be anything but obvious when I say there are a lot of lights. There are three ways to enjoy them: driving, walking, or horse carriage ride. The carriage ride does have a cost to it, although I am not sure how much since we decided against it. We first drove through, enjoying everything from the warmth of our car (only parking lights are allowed). At the end, we parked our car and decided to walk a bit. It was nice to see everything that encouraged people to really step out of the car and enjoy all the lights on foot. Towards the entrance, there is a small area to pet a camel and some sheep, as well as a camel to ride, for a fee. Further down is the gift shop where hot cocoa and cinnamon rolls are sold, and restrooms are available. Near the horse carriage, there was a booth that sold cotton candy (not sure if there was anything else since we drove by). It’s just a nice experience all around.
There are a couple of downsides. If you plan on going and you don’t live in the area, pay attention to your GPS and not the signs on the road. Google Maps told us to get off one exit, but a highway sign specifically made for Festival of Light had an earlier exit. Figuring that Chickasha knew their town and roads better than Google Maps, we went with what the sign said. Big mistake. We got off the highway and tried following the very small and very sparse signs that pointed the way towards the Festival. Google Maps kept trying to reroute us by having us turn around and showed we were going further away. But we just kept following the signs until we finally had to stop because the signs had led us to basically nowhere near anything of importance. So screw the signs, we headed where Google Maps told us… which was right on target. And as we got closer, we saw more signs that led right to the spot. So where on earth were the other signs trying to lead? Absolutely convoluted and confusing… ignore them and stick with whatever navigation system you have.
The second downside is that it is small. The drive through takes about 5 minutes, if that. Walking around will obviously take longer, as will the carriage ride. And the little additions of the food and animals will also add to it. So if you plan on getting out of your car, bundle up for a nice time. If you plan on only driving through, I can’t say the drive to Chickasha is worth it. It’s nice, but not nice enough to make the drive from OKC worthwhile if it’s only going to be a few minutes long. That said, I have heard many good things about it and am glad I finally got to check it out. But I will probably stick to the one closer by me that has three sections, each as large as the Chickasha one.
Definitely a five star outing if you’re closer to the area. But being a distance away for something pretty short makes it a bit less than ideal.