Professional Holiday Light Displays in Portland, Oregon

Viewing holiday light displays makes a fun winter outing. If you're in Portland, Oregon, and want to see more than just your neighborhood lights, check out these fun venues around town.

The Grotto Christmas Festival of Lights
The Grotto, also known as the National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, is a 62 acre Catholic shrine at NE 85th and Sandy Boulevard (www.thegrotto.org). It includes beautiful botanical gardens and both indoor and outdoor sanctuaries. At Christmas-time, the Grotto adds light displays, musical performances, and family activities, and calls it the Festival of Lights.

Musical performances include school, church and civic choirs from around the Portland area. Other activities include puppet shows, living history theater, and a petting zoo. Light displays include over half a million lights, and depict scenes from the biblical Christmas story.

The Festival of Lights is open November 23rd to December 30, 2007 (except Christmas Day). Gates are open from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and the grounds close at 10:00 p.m. Admission is $7.00 for adults and $3.00 for children ages 3-12 (2 and under are free). The Grotto also invites visitors to bring a gift of baby food for Snow-CAP, an organization that runs a local food assistance program.

This is a walk-through, outdoor event (with the exception of concerts, which are held indoors), so be sure to dress for the weather. For more information, visit the Festival of Lights web page at http://www.thegrotto.org/events/lights.htm.

Oregon Zoo ZooLights
From November 24 to December 30, the Oregon Zoo (off Highway 26, west of downtown Portland) is transformed by nearly a million lights into a winter wonderland.

The zoo's unique displays include animated animals like monkeys swinging through trees, leaping frogs, and diving penguins. Not all of the regular zoo exhibits are part of ZooLights. According to the zoo website, "Mountain Goats, Leopards, Tigers, Sea Lions, Sea Otters, Primates, Polar Bears, Farm Animals and Elephants will be visible." Visitors will also see costumed characters around the zoo, such as Rudolph the Reindeer and holiday elves.