Belgrade's Holiday Light Park Began as a 2020 Workaround. Now the Whole Festival of Lights Runs Around It

In December 2019, the Belgrade Community Coalition put up its Memorial Lights Tunnel for the Festival of Lights, and it came down again after one night. A year later the Coalition couldn't safely gather crowds downtown or at the Belgrade High Special Events Center. So it moved the tunnel to the walking path behind the Belgrade Senior Center and added an 18-foot Frosty the Snowman inflatable, "a not much shorter Rudolf and Clarice," and more of their inflatable friends. It all stayed up for the whole month.

That stopgap is now the backbone of the festival. This year the Holiday Light Park runs from November 24 through January 8, which works out to 46 nights at 92 East Cameron. The big Saturday everyone thinks of as the Festival of Lights is still on the calendar. It just falls in the middle of the season now, where it used to be the whole thing.

The festival used to be one day

The Festival of Lights goes back to 1996, when the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce founded it. Tiffany Maierle, executive director of the Belgrade Community Coalition, told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that the Chamber stopped running the event in 2016, "much to the disappointment of the town." The Chamber later handed it to the Coalition. The Coalition built a full day around it, with the Jingle Jog, a pancake breakfast, Santa photos and gingerbread house contests.

A single day only works if a crowd can gather, and in 2020 it couldn't. The Coalition's own 2020 planning post says the board and Festival of Lights committee spent six months meeting on Zoom. Out of those meetings, "our one special day turned into a whole month of new and exciting activities." Maierle described that process to the Chronicle:

"When COVID hit, we weren't able to do any of that. We brainstormed to figure out what we could do to get people outside and spread out."

According to the Chronicle's 2022 coverage, two of the ideas from that brainstorm quickly became tradition: the Holiday Light Park and a lit-up truck convoy. By 2022 the park was shining along a figure-eight walking path by the Senior Center every night.

The Coalition saw this coming in its 2020 post. It wrote that the pandemic "forced us to break away from the 'Festival of Lights as usual'" and led to "some pretty amazing additions that we may have never thought to try."

From one December to a season that runs into January

In 2020 the Coalition planned for the park to stay up "all December long." Since then it has opened in November and stayed lit into January. In 2022 the switch flipped on November 13 and the lights ran through January 6. Last season, Belgrade News reported the lights came on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and would stay lit until January 9, 2026.

This year's 2026 season runs on this calendar:

1. Tuesday, November 24, 6 p.m. is Flip the Switch Night at Belgrade Senior Center Park, 92 East Cameron. The Coalition counts down to "Flipping the Switch," and the park lights up for the season.
2. November 24 through January 8, the park is lit every night along the Senior Center walking path. It has the giant ornament for photos and the Memorial Lights Tunnels.
3. Saturday, December 12 is the festival's main day, covered below.
4. Thursday, December 17, 6 p.m. is Memorial Lights Night at the Light Park.

The Coalition describes Flip the Switch as "a relaxed, low-key evening to enjoy the sparkle of the holidays." It falls two days before Thanksgiving. The park sits behind the Senior Center and is open to visitors at any time. The Coalition's Light Park page has the nightly lighting hours.

On opening night last year, Belgrade News reported that local families toured the displays while a food truck parked nearby sold warm drinks.

December 12 is still the big day

The Saturday events haven't gone anywhere. They now land 18 days into a season that's already running, and they stack up tight enough that you can do most of them in one day.

The Jingle Jog is open to "runners, walkers, strollers, skippers, and hoppers of all ages." Anyone running in festive gear is automatically entered in the Get Ugly contest after the race, which is why the contest starts 90 minutes after the starting gun, just down the street. Last December, Jingle Jog organizer Kieley Parker told KBZK the goal was "just to get people out" for some casual holiday fun.

The Belgrade Chamber of Commerce is also holding its Downtown Belgrade Tree Decorating Contest that Saturday, according to its event calendar.

Holiday Hoopla wraps up the day. The Coalition describes it as a hometown celebration where you "meander down Main Street visiting downtown businesses, checking out local vendors and organizations, and listening to the sounds of the season." Main Street has had a holiday draw of its own for years. In its 2020 post, the Coalition counted its "signature sphere lights at the Chamber of Commerce and the Memorial Light trees lining Main Street" among what makes December in Belgrade. The writer added: "I have heard from many people over the years that the holidays are their favorite time to walk or drive downtown."

The tunnel that started it all now has its own night

The Memorial Lights Tunnel is the piece that came down after one night in 2019, and it's the clearest sign of how much the festival has changed. It now has two tunnels and a ceremony of its own. Last season Belgrade News described two Memorial Lights Tunnels at the park. The program itself goes back further than the park. In 2020 the Coalition said it was in its fourth year and that the display had grown each year as more names were added.

Here's how it works this year, according to the Coalition's Memorial Lights page:

• You buy an ornament in a loved one's name, and it hangs in the Memorial Lights Tunnels at the Holiday Light Park from December 17 through January 8.
• Ornaments cost $20 per person, not per couple, in the first year someone is honored, and $10 each year after that.
• Memorial Lights Night is Thursday, December 17 at 6 p.m. It includes a message of hope from a local pastor, music from local choirs and a moment of silence, followed by a walk through the park and the tunnels.

The price structure tells you what the program is built for. The ornament is meant to come back every year, and the second year costs half as much as the first.

Who actually puts the park up

A display that stays up for more than six weeks needs more hands than a one-day event, and the volunteer crew reflects that. Last November, Belgrade News reported that volunteers installed the Christmas displays the weekend before the lights came on. The crew included Panther wrestlers, who had helped in earlier years, along with members of Central Valley Fire and a NorthWestern Energy crew with boom trucks. Other community members pitched in too.

Across the whole festival, Maierle told the Chronicle in 2022, the work takes thousands of hours of planning from the Coalition's board and staff, more than 150 volunteers and a long list of sponsors. She put it plainly:

"Without them there is no way to do this. This is one of Belgrade's favorite events of the year. It does just bring the community together and it gives the residents of Belgrade an opportunity to support their community and build our community."

The Coalition's sponsor page lists sponsorship tiers and a contact for businesses interested in supporting the 2026 festival. Anyone with questions about the Holiday Market, including vendors, can email [email protected].

Flip the Switch is Tuesday, November 24 at 6 p.m. at 92 East Cameron, and from that night through January 8 the park is lit and open to walk any evening you choose.

If a walk through the lights has you wondering what your own Belgrade home might be worth heading into the new year, Chelsea Stewart Real Estate is happy to put together a free home valuation, with no pressure and no rush before the holidays.