Annual Christmas Light Festival is brightening Frisco until December 15
The annual Christmas Light Festival at the Frisco Woods Campground is underway, and the drive-through or walk-through celebration of lights will be available for sightseers until Friday, December 15.
The nightly event, which officially began on Dec. 1, is a self-guided tour of thousands of Christmas lights and displays that range from holiday pirates to familiar characters from A Christmas Story, Charlie Brown, and more.
The tour is available from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m., and attendees can pick up a map of the expansive light display at the main campground office. The cost is a $5 donation per car or group, and all proceeds go towards the construction of a new Frisco-Buxton pathway.
The Hatteras Island community got its first look at the proposed Frisco-Buxton pathway at a 2019 open house, which provided detailed plans of a 7.6-mile pathway for pedestrians and cyclists. The pathway runs parallel to N.C. Highway 12, and will eventually extend from the Valero Gas Station in Buxton to the Frisco Bathhouse beach access south of Frisco’s borders.
Currently, Buxton and Frisco are the only two villages on Hatteras Island that do not have a village-wide pathway, and stakeholders are hoping to slowly and steadily raise the funds to complete the full 7.6-mile pathway within the next several years.
“We have raised $153,000 thus far,” said Stacey Saunders, chairperson of the Frisco Buxton Pathway Project committee. “We are hoping to raise another $2,000 at the [Light Festival] event.”
The Christmas Light Festival is one of many events hosted by the campground and the Frisco-Buxton Pathway Committee to raise donations for this ongoing project, and the weeks-long festival also coincides with a special Hayrides with Santa event on Saturday, December 7.
On Saturday night, (from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.), visitors will enjoy a number of activities and enticements in addition to a hayride cruise with Santa himself, including Santa pictures, music, bounce houses, hot dogs, hot cocoa, cookies, and much more. The event is free, but like the Light Festival, all donations towards the pathway are appreciated.
Regardless of whether folks attend the one-night-only Hayrides with Santa event on December 7, or just enjoy an exploration of the Lights Festival at their leisure, expect to be wowed by this year’s display that rivals any holiday light display on the islands.
“This year’s light show is bigger and better than years’ past,” said Saunders. “We have a lot of new scenes, and of course, new lights.”
More information on the event can be found online at the Frisco Woods Campground’s Facebook page, and the community at large is encouraged to come out to the nightly festival and help support the years-long pathway project that is steadily coming to fruition.
