Shannon Springs Park's next permanent structure will go up next to the Festival of Light tree. In August 2026 the Chickasha City Council approved a design contract with Freese and Nichols, worth nearly $120,000, for a covered pavilion measuring 44 by 40 feet. The council summary places it "near the Festival of Light tree." At the same meeting, the council moved a nearly $2 million rebuild of the pond walking trail closer to bidding. Meanwhile, volunteers are getting ready to string millions of lights across the same 43 acres. When the city plans the park's future, it now plans around the festival.
A park that hosts everyone else first
For most of the year, Shannon Springs belongs to the people who live closest to it. The municipal pool opens there for the summer. The Chickasha Elks Lodge holds its kids' fishing derby there after stocking the pond with 2,000 pounds of catfish. The Oklahoma Veterans Recognition Committee reads names at the Memorial Day ceremony, and the Festival of Freedom fills the park every summer.
Then the visitors arrive. In March 2026, organizers told the Festival of Light board that more than 250,000 people came during the 2025 season. That was more than double the attendance of any other Christmas light display in Oklahoma. Compare that with the season before. In January 2025, festival director Matt Stockman told the city council that the 2024 festival drew about 164,900 unique visitors and more than 200,000 total visits. The two reports may not count people the same way, but they point the same direction. The same March report said USA Today readers ranked the festival among the top five Christmas light displays in the country for the fourth year in a row. It also named the Wichita Falls, Texas, area as the top out-of-state hometown for visitors.
A crowd that size is hard to plan around as a one-time event. The council's recent park decisions suggest the city has stopped trying.
The pavilion went where the tree is
The pavilion started small and stayed hard to pay for. In June 2026, the city learned it had received a $100,000 grant from the Oklahoma Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. The parks department and the citizens' parks and recreation advisory board weighed two uses for the money: a stand-alone pavilion or a canopy over the amphitheater. The council heard a range of options. The smallest was the 40-by-44-foot pavilion, estimated then at $650,000 to $800,000. The largest would have covered the whole amphitheater for up to $3 million. Officials also said the upcoming fiscal year budget had no money for even the smallest option.
By August the plan had settled. The advisory board recommended putting the pavilion near the Festival of Light tree. The estimate is now $530,000 to $680,000, and officials hope to stay near the low end. The pavilion is expected to be built next year.
The festival has been putting money into that same spot for years. In August 2025, the Festival of Light started a campaign to raise more than $100,000 for work already done on the tree. That work added supports for 48 new guy wires carrying an estimated 25,000 lights, all of them digital. The March 2026 report credited a two-year partnership with the University of Oklahoma's engineering department for the tree's upgrade. A covered pavilion beside the tree will serve a family reunion in May. It will also sit at the center of the busiest six weeks the park has.
The trail rebuild is timed for the quiet months
The pond trail project has been in the works for a while. The council first approved an agreement with the Oklahoma Department of Transportation more than three years ago. Under that deal, ODOT covers 80 percent of the cost to replace the walking trail around the pond. Since then the estimate has climbed from $1.8 million to nearly $2 million. ODOT's share is capped at $1.4 million, so the city absorbs the increase, which brings its cost to more than $530,000.
Here is the schedule as the council summaries describe it:
- Fall 2026: The project goes out for bid, and a contract could be awarded later in the fall.
- Mid-November through December 31: The Festival of Light uses the park. Its FAQ says the festival normally runs nightly from the Thursday before Thanksgiving through New Year's Eve.
- Early 2027: Trail construction could begin in the first quarter of the year.
- Five months after that: The contractor must finish within that window.
If the schedule holds, the pond trail will be torn up during the months when the park is quietest and finished well before the lights return. The council summaries never say the festival set that timing. Still, the calendar works out so the festival season and the construction season don't overlap.
What the lights mean for your calendar this fall
The festival has not announced its 2026 opening night yet. The usual pattern puts it on Thursday, November 19, because Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year. In 2025 it opened on Thursday, November 20, with a soft opening. In 2024, the soft opening was billed for local residents. Watch the festival's Facebook page for this year's date before you plan around it.
The build starts long before that. In 2024, crews began putting up lights on October 1 and spent about two months on a display of nearly four million lights. The festival hasn't posted a 2026 start date, but if you walk the park this month you may see the same early-season work underway. Festival of Light, Inc. is a volunteer-run nonprofit. Its small board meets all 12 months of the year, and volunteers handle everything from design and lighting crews to traffic guides. The volunteer page asks for help with installation before the festival and with gate shifts during it. The 2026 board includes Jim Cowan, Abby LaForge, Chris Mosley and Tim Elliott, among others. The Chickasha Chamber's July 29, 2026 column said Christmas in July in Chickasha is when "the real work begins."
Once the gates open, these details matter most to people who live nearby:
- Hours: The festival website lists Sunday through Thursday, 6 to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 6 to 11 p.m.
- Busy nights: The festival calls Wednesday through Sunday its busiest nights. On those nights the drive-through line forms on Grand Avenue. From the north, the official route runs from US-62/Choctaw Avenue to 29th Street. From the south, it runs from 4th Street to Country Club Drive and then 29th Street. If you live along those streets, expect more traffic. If you want a shorter wait, Monday and Tuesday are the nights the festival doesn't list as busy.
- Cost and parking: You can walk or drive through for free, and donation boxes are optional. The park has more than 350 free parking spaces plus two paid lots.
- Extras: The attractions page lists a real-ice rink, North Pole Village, a mini carnival, camel and horse-drawn carriage rides, Santa and food trucks. Some fee pages still carry 2025 dates, so check prices with organizers before you go.
- Downtown link: In 2025, the Santa Shuttle ran $2 round trips from the Depot at 100 W Chickasha Ave to the park. The festival's own pages disagree on last year's shuttle dates, and 2026 dates haven't been posted.
The other end of the shuttle route
The shuttle's downtown stop is the Leg Lamp plaza, where Chickasha is following the same strategy. NonDoc reported in December 2025 that city officials see the lamp as one part of a redevelopment plan built around seasonal tourism. That plan includes a proposed park south of the plaza and a pedestrian bridge to connect downtown attractions.
"This didn't happen in isolation. The lamp became a focal point, but the goal has always been to build something bigger around it." Pat Brooks, former Chickasha mayor and Chickasha Community Foundation board member, speaking to NonDoc
Inside the Chickasha Visitor Center, Pamela Pryther runs Crafty Queen & Co. She sells handmade crafts alongside officially licensed A Christmas Story merchandise and told NonDoc that foot traffic has grown steadily. The effect reaches the city budget too. In late September 2026, KOOL 105.5 reported that Chickasha's sales tax collections had set three records in the first nine months of the year. Jim Cowan of the Chickasha Chamber of Commerce listed the Festival of Light and the Leg Lamp among the reasons.
The shuttle connects the two halves of that plan. The pavilion and the trail will make the park end of it permanent, so the next time you walk the pond in spring 2027, you may be on a path finished just in time for the festival to come back.
If you have questions about how the 2027 park projects or festival traffic could affect a home near Shannon Springs, Trey and Stephanie Real Estate will walk you through it. Give us a call.
