Where to See Christmas Lights in Spokane

Plan Your Route

Spokane's lights are spread across a metro that takes forty minutes to cross, so the difference between a great light-looking evening and a frustrating one is almost entirely route planning. The displays cluster into four pockets — downtown, the South Hill, the north side, and the Valley — with Coeur d'Alene's lakefront show a legitimate day trip 35 minutes east on I-90. Three loops that work:

• The walkable downtown evening (90 minutes, mostly free). Park once, walk Riverfront Park's lit paths, cut over to Post Street, and finish inside the Historic Davenport Hotel. Good for small kids and cold nights — you're never more than a block from somewhere warm.
• The South Hill drive (60–75 minutes, free). A car loop through the Hill's long-running neighborhood traditions. Best after 5 p.m. on a weeknight; weekend traffic on the famous streets genuinely backs up.
• The Coeur d'Alene night (a full evening). Drive east, walk the lakefront boardwalk under the resort's lights for free, and add a ticketed lake cruise if you want the full production.

One note that saves grief: most Inland Northwest displays run roughly 4:30 p.m. to somewhere between 8:30 and 10 p.m., because it's fully dark here by 4:15 in December. Arrive at 4:45 and you get the lights without the 6 p.m. crowd.

What Changed Recently — Read This First

Two long-standing Spokane-area displays are no longer running, and older roundups still list both. Work from a five-year-old "best Christmas lights in Spokane" article and you may drive somewhere dark.

• Manito Holiday Lights was cancelled for the 2025 season. Friends of Manito and Spokane Parks and Recreation called it off, citing the resources required, the environmental impact on the park, and strain on the surrounding neighborhood. Organizers said they intended to revisit the idea in 2026. Treat Manito as unconfirmed until they announce something.
• Liberty Lake's Winter Glow Spectacular has ended. The nonprofit that produced the free drive-through display at Orchard Park since 2019 wound the event down in early 2025, and the city has said it is looking for a replacement attraction.
• The Glenrose show's future is uncertain. The Spokane Christmas Light Show near South Glenrose Road and 31st Avenue — a free, music-synchronized drive-by display run by Gary Kuhn for more than two decades — has been scaling back, and Kuhn, then 80, publicly offered the equipment for sale. Check its status each year.

Downtown Spokane

Downtown is the densest and easiest pocket, and almost all of it is free and walkable. Park in a garage on Post or Main and do the whole thing on foot.

Riverfront Park Trail of Lights

Riverfront Park's holiday lighting turns the paths near the Howard Street entrance into a lit walking route along the river. In the 2025–26 season it ran from late November through the first days of January, and it is free. Flat and walkable, with the Numerica Skate Ribbon right there if you want to add skating.

Numerica Tree Lighting Celebration

The city's official tree lighting, on the plaza beside the Skate Ribbon on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. In 2025 festivities started at 4 p.m. with food trucks and live entertainment; the tree was lit at 6 p.m. Free, crowded, and the unofficial start of the Spokane lights season.

Merry & Magical Lane

A newer installation along Post Street, from River Park Square at Main down to the Davenport Hotel at First Avenue — over 100,000 lights on the street trees and strung across the street, LED lighting in the Post Street skywalk, decorated poles, and artist-painted windows. Free, a five-minute walk end to end, with programming from late November into January. The best single block downtown for photos.

Christmas Tree Elegance

Indoors, and a genuine Spokane institution — the Spokane Symphony Associates' decorated-tree showcase split between the Historic Davenport Hotel and River Park Square, in its 43rd year as of 2025. Trees are up about two weeks in early December (Dec. 2–14 in 2025). Free to walk through; the raffle tickets that fund the Symphony are sold separately. It draws well over 100,000 people, and the Davenport's exterior lighting is worth a look on the way in.

South Hill

The South Hill is where Spokane's residential light-looking tradition actually lives, and it's a driving experience rather than a walking one. Two named traditions anchor it, both decades old and both free.

Skyview Drive

Homes along Skyview Drive between 37th Avenue and High Drive have put lighted Christmas trees in their front yards every December since 1953 — seventy-plus years of it, organized through the neighborhood association, with classic plywood-tree silhouettes lining the street. Drive it slowly from 37th and Skyview heading south, or from High Drive heading north. No admission, no organizer; it's simply a street that does this.

Candy Cane Lane

A block over, on South Tekoa between 37th and 40th, and a Spokane drive-by tradition for generations. Same rules: residential street, keep your speed down and your high beams off.

Manito Park

Historically the Hill's marquee event — a free walk-through display in Duncan Garden, most recently December 14–22, 2024, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. It did not run in 2025 (see above). If it returns, Duncan Garden's formal geometry makes it the prettiest lit setting in the city. Check with Spokane Parks and Recreation before planning around it.

North Spokane

The north side has fewer organized productions and more strong residential blocks. The reliable calendar item is the Corbin Park tree lighting on the near North Side, listed for the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2025 (Nov. 30, 3:30 p.m.) — a neighborhood-scale event in a historic park.

Beyond that, north Spokane light-looking means driving. The reliably decorated pockets are the newer subdivisions with wide streets and big frontages — Five Mile, Indian Trail, Shiloh Hills, Wandermere, Fairwood, and out toward Mead and Colbert — plus older streets around Corbin Park and Audubon, where the houses have the trim detail to show lights off well. There's no fixed route here, which is part of the appeal: pick a subdivision and wander.

Spokane Valley

Northwest Winterfest

The region's biggest ticketed light attraction, at the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center in Spokane Valley. It's an indoor, self-guided walking tour of large illuminated lantern displays — around twenty themed installations — with live performances and food on site. Recent seasons ran Fridays through Sundays from late November through December 31. Tickets have run roughly $17 adults and under $10 youth, with young children free alongside a ticketed adult; confirm pricing when you book. Being indoors makes this the reliable option when it's ten degrees and blowing.

Celebration of Lights Tree Lighting

The City of Spokane Valley's tree lighting, held with the Rotary Club of the Greater Spokane Valley. In 2025 it was at Balfour Park (105 N. Balfour Road) on Friday, December 5, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. — free, with a walking light parade, Santa, live reindeer, and food trucks. This event has moved venues over the years, so confirm the location and not just the date.

Valley residential driving

Valley displays skew toward big-lot suburban homes with room for yard inflatables and full rooflines. Reader-submitted regional lists have historically clustered around East Trent and the East 20th Avenue area, with entries out in Otis Orchards and Post Falls too. These change year to year.

Day Trip: Coeur d'Alene

Thirty-five minutes east on I-90, and honestly the largest light display in the region by a wide margin. The Coeur d'Alene Resort lights the downtown lakefront with more than 1.5 million lights, and much of it costs nothing to see.

The Lighting Ceremony Parade — a confirmed 2026 date

The Coeur d'Alene Downtown Association's Lighting Ceremony Parade is confirmed for Friday, November 27, 2026, its 34th year, 5 to 6 p.m. It starts at 8th and Sherman and travels west on Sherman Avenue to Government Way and Northwest Boulevard. Afterward the crowd gathers on the Resort lawn for carols, a countdown, fireworks, and the moment the lakefront lights switch on. Watching from Sherman Avenue and the public lawn is free; the Resort sells a ticketed premium viewing area separately. Arrive early — this fills downtown CdA.

Journey to the North Pole cruises

The Resort's ticketed 40-minute boat cruise through the lit lakefront, with a stop at a waterfront Santa workshop. In the 2025–26 season it ran mid-November through January 4, hourly at 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30 p.m., boarding at the Resort Plaza Shops (115 S. 2nd Street). Pricing that season: $29.50 adults, $28.50 seniors 55+, $14.50 youth 6–12, free under six, with a discount during the pre-Thanksgiving preview week. Book ahead; good slots sell out.

Free from the boardwalk

You don't need a cruise ticket to see the display. The lakefront boardwalk is public and the lights stay on into early January — through January 5 in the 2025–26 season. Park downtown, walk out, and the whole lit shoreline is right there. Dress for wind off the lake.

Residential Displays: How to Find Them, and How to Behave

Most of Spokane's best lights are on private homes, and they are genuinely different every year — a household that goes all out for five seasons will skip one for a new baby, a remodel, or a move. That's why this guide names neighborhoods and long-established public traditions rather than publishing private addresses: those lists go stale within a season, and they point strangers at people's houses. For current-year specifics, use the sources residents maintain — The Spokesman-Review's reader-submitted holiday lights map, which the paper has published in most recent seasons (though not every year), and the Spokane-area Christmas lights communities on Facebook, where enthusiasts keep shared maps through the season.

Some etiquette homeowners will thank you for:

• High beams off while you're rolling past — they wash the lights out for everyone behind you.
• Don't stop in the travel lane. On Skyview and Tekoa on a December Saturday there's a line of cars behind you. Pull over legally or loop back.
• Stay off the grass and out of the driveway. A yard display is not a photo set, and the cords underfoot are somebody's actual wiring.
• Keep it early with kids. Traffic at 9:30 p.m. on a school night is what gets neighborhood traditions cancelled.
• If a display has a donation box or food-bank barrel, use it. Several of the region's biggest amateur displays run on donations and Second Harvest collections.

Practical Notes

• Season window. Most displays light up between Thanksgiving weekend and the first week of December and go dark between January 1 and 5. The week after Christmas is the quietest good time to go.
• Weather. First measurable snow averages around mid-November, and December is the snowiest month. Snow makes displays look dramatically better and South Hill side streets dramatically worse — winter tires, and respect the grades.
• Accessibility. Riverfront Park's paths and Northwest Winterfest's indoor route are the most wheelchair-friendly options.
• Cost. A full evening of Spokane lights can cost nothing. The only paid items here are Northwest Winterfest and the Coeur d'Alene cruise.

Frequently Asked Questions

Corrections and additions welcome — if a display here has changed, moved, or ended, or we've missed one, let us know and we'll update it. Last reviewed August 2026.