"This initial phase will transform the annual Tree Lighting into a park-wide lighting display for December, complementing Vitruvian Lights and making Addison Circle Park a holiday destination."
That line comes from the Town of Addison's September 28 announcement. It marks a real change in how Addison's holidays are laid out. Last year the holidays at Addison Circle Park lasted one evening. The 2025 Addison Circle Holiday Tree Lighting ran on Friday, December 5, from 6 to 9 p.m. Vitruvian Lights, meanwhile, kept Vitruvian Park lit every night from late November through New Year's Day. This year the Town is giving Addison Circle a full season of its own. That means two lit parks in December instead of one, and the work to get there is already underway.
From One Evening to a Full December
The City Council approved the lighting contract at its September 22 meeting. The money is in the Fiscal Year 2027 budget. Here's how last year's event compares with what the Town has confirmed for this year so far.
| Addison Circle, 2025 | Addison Circle, 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | One-evening Holiday Tree Lighting | Park-wide lighting display for December |
| Date | Friday, Dec. 5, 6–9 p.m. | Display scheduled to be ready for a Dec. 5 holiday event |
| What's lit | The tree, lit by the mayor | Trees on Quorum Road and Addison Circle, a light curtain on the Addison Road iron fence, plus more décor and lighting |
| Programming | Music from The Ones, carriage rides, a floating lantern release, synchronized Christmas music, cocoa, sweets, free Santa photos | Not announced yet; the Town says details will come closer to the date |
The Town's 2026 announcement gives the target as December 5, the same date as last year's event. This year that falls on a Saturday. The Town hasn't said whether this year's evening will include the lantern release, the carriage rides or the Santa photos. The 2025 lineup is the best guide to what the night has looked like in the past. It isn't a promise for this year.
What $225,000 Buys, Street by Street
The contract is with Premier Christmas, a commercial lighting company. It runs for one year and is capped at $225,000. The scope reaches beyond the park itself and onto the streets around it. Lit trees on Quorum Road and around Addison Circle will be visible to anyone driving through on an ordinary December evening, whether or not they're headed to an event. The light curtain on the iron fence along Addison Road faces one of the busiest edges of the park.
Two details in the announcement suggest the Town is planning beyond this year. First, Premier Christmas handles installation, takedown, transportation and annual storage. A vendor that stores the décor from year to year makes it easier to bring the display back. Second, the Town calls this an "initial phase," which suggests more could follow. The contract itself only covers one year, so any later phase would need its own approval.
The Fountains Come First
The other project in the park this fall comes before the lights. Under a plan the Council approved on August 25, all of the Water Gardens fountain pools are to be drained during construction, and the lower pool and the sidewalk beside it are to be fenced off.
The work is a $145,676 contract with Sunbelt Pools, Inc. to repair the lower pool. The crew will fix deteriorating tile, lighting, expansion joints and stonework. They'll remove the old tile, resurface the pool with Pebble Tec and accent tiles, and repair the lighting. According to the Town's September 7 update, work was set to start after Oktoberfest on September 21, with completion expected by early November.
If that schedule holds, the Water Gardens will be back in service about a month before the new display is due on December 5. The repaired pool lighting will come back just ahead of the lit trees and fence curtain. The Town hasn't posted a progress update since the September announcement, so early November is still a forecast.
Vitruvian Lights Sets the Standard
The Town's announcement says the new display is meant to complement Vitruvian Lights. That gives the Addison Circle display a clear benchmark. Vitruvian Park is at 3966 Vitruvian Way. It has been running a full-season holiday display for years, and a 2025 Patch listing called 2025 its 13th annual season.
Here's what last year looked like. The Town's 2025 event listing set the Vitruvian Lights Tree Lighting for November 22 at 6 p.m. The evening included Limelight, food vendors, Santa photos, holiday characters, an elf balloon artist, reindeer, letters to Santa and an illuminated walk-through gift box. After that, the lights ran nightly from 5 to 11 p.m. starting November 23. The season ended on January 1, 2026. The same Patch listing counted more than 1.2 million LED lights on 468 trees that year. No 2026 light count has been published.
For 2026, official details are still thin. Visit Addison says only that Vitruvian Lights "Returns November 2026." An event listing on Do214 gives the season as Saturday, November 28, 2026, through Friday, January 1, 2027. It also lists Bite Night food-truck evenings on Saturdays, December 12, 19 and 26, from 6 to 10 p.m. Those dates come from a third-party listing. The Town and Visit Addison haven't confirmed them on the pages we reviewed.
If those dates hold, Vitruvian would light up about a week before Addison Circle's December 5 event, and both parks would be lit through the rest of December. That's the first year Addison would have holiday lights running in two of its parks at the same time.
The Calendar From Here to New Year's
Several smaller Town events fill the weeks before the lights come on. Here's the full run as it stands today, with unconfirmed items marked.
- Thursday, October 22, 6–8 p.m. Addison's Fall Town Meeting.
- Saturday, October 24, 9 a.m.–noon. Clear the Clutter at the Addison Service Center, 16801 Westgrove Drive. Residents can bring shredding, recycling and household hazardous waste. It's free.
- Friday, October 30, 6–8 p.m. Little Night of Frights at Les Lacs Park, 3901 Beltway Drive. It's free.
- Early November. Expected completion of the Water Gardens repairs at Addison Circle Park. This is a forecast.
- November. Vitruvian Lights returns. Do214 lists November 28 as the start date, which is unconfirmed by the Town.
- Saturday, December 5. The holiday event at Addison Circle Park, when the new display is scheduled to be ready. Name, hours and programming are still to come.
- Saturdays, December 12, 19 and 26, 6–10 p.m. Bite Night at Vitruvian Lights, as listed by Do214.
- Friday, January 1, 2027. Listed closing date for Vitruvian Lights, also per Do214.
Three items on that list come from official Town sources with exact dates and times: the Town Meeting, Clear the Clutter and Little Night of Frights. The December 5 target also comes from the Town, but it has no hours yet. The Vitruvian dates are listed but not officially confirmed, and the Water Gardens finish date is an estimate. The Town has said more details on the Addison Circle event will come as December 5 gets closer. That announcement is the next piece of official news to watch for.
Is a December evening in Addison Circle Park part of what you love about living here? Or are you weighing how a new park-wide display might change the feel of the streets near home? The Bracchi Group is always glad to talk about Addison, from what's changing at the parks to what those changes mean for the homes around them. Contact Us whenever you'd like to talk.
