The Holiday Lights Show Moved to Owl Creek, and Sandbridge's Season Now Matches the City's on Foot

"This is going to be something that you walk into and you see it, and you hear it, and in some zones, you're actually going to feel it." William Younce, director of the city's Beach Events program, told the Resort Advisory Commission that in September, as reported by The Virginian-Pilot. He was talking about the Holiday Trail of Lights. Starting November 20, it replaces the drive-through show that families steered down the Oceanfront Boardwalk for 31 years.

With that change, Virginia Beach no longer has a big holiday tradition you can do from the car. Nearly every date on this year's holiday calendar is something you walk through. In Sandbridge, the holidays have run that way for years. They start with a 5K on Sandbridge Road and continue with hikes that leave from the Back Bay refuge lot. This year the rest of the city's calendar works the same way.

Why the cars came off the Boardwalk

Holiday Lights at the Beach started in 1995. It usually opened in mid-November and ran about 47 days. In its last season, November 14 to December 31, 2025, it sent cars down the Boardwalk from Second Street to 33rd Street, and tickets cost $20 or $25 per vehicle, according to The Virginian-Pilot. WTKR described the route as a two-mile stretch. WAVY reported that the 31st and final year included a 600-foot LED tunnel, Surfing Santa and a 40-foot Christmas tree in dancing lights.

The show was popular, and that was the problem. About 21,000 vehicles drove through it last season. The city says the traffic strained the Boardwalk and shortened its life. The Boardwalk sits on top of the seawall that protects Oceanfront property from storms. Anyone who has followed the money behind beach replenishment at Sandbridge will see the logic. Coastal protection costs a lot, and the city decided a holiday tradition shouldn't keep wearing it down.

Some of the old displays will be set up on the Boardwalk between 24th and 31st streets. Cars won't be allowed there, so you'll be walking those blocks too.

What a walk-in show changes about the evening

The new show is on the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center's Nature Trail at 717 General Booth Boulevard. It's called the BayPort Credit Union Holiday Trail of Lights, presented by Huffman & Huffman Brothers-in-Law. Virginia Beach Events and the City of Virginia Beach are putting it on, and it runs from November 20, 2026, through January 3, 2027. The trail runs through woods and salt marsh along Owl Creek. It's divided into seven themed zones with lights set to music, and small speakers along the path fade the music out as you reach the next zone. Santa is there every night in the "Glowing Grove." The city budgeted $1 million for this year's show.

The biggest practical change is in the price. The old show charged per car. The new one charges per person, in timed windows, according to the official Beach Events listing:

Fees are added to every price, and Aquarium members get their own discount. Two adults and two children on a Value Night pay $62 before fees. Under the old system, that same family drove the Boardwalk for $20 or $25 per car. In return, the show is now something you walk through and hear. You no longer watch it through a windshield.

There are three entry windows each night:

1. Twilight Hour, 5 to 6 p.m. You get in early, the trail is less crowded, and you leave with a commemorative ornament.
2. 6 to 7:30 p.m.
3. 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Walk-up tickets aren't guaranteed, and if any are left they cost $10 more per ticket. Parking is free at the Aquarium's main lot and south-building lot, and you can start from either end of the trail. Strollers, wheelchairs, mobility scooters and bags are allowed. Pets, chairs, outside food and drink, glass, bikes and non-mobility scooters are not. If your dog usually rode along for the Boardwalk lights, it stays home this year.

Thanksgiving morning starts at 205 Sandbridge Road

Sandbridge's own holiday season peaks six days after the lights go on, and it's on foot too. Charlie Normile's Turkey Trot runs on Thursday, November 26. The 5K starts at 9 a.m. and the 1-mile Fun Run/Canine Crawl at 10 a.m., according to the race's RunSignup page. The race is at 205 Sandbridge Road, the home of Sandbridge Island Restaurant & Raw Bar. The Canine Crawl makes it the one big event of the season where a dog is welcome.

The race honors Charlie and James Normile and raises money for the Navy SEAL Foundation. A free Gobble Wobble for young children starts at 8:55 a.m., just before the 5K. It isn't new. The Virginian-Pilot reported that it began in 2011 with about 500 people, and turnout had held steady at around 750 by 2018. That makes this year's race the 16th Thanksgiving morning it has filled Sandbridge Road.

The registration deadline matters this week. An individual 5K entry costs $40 plus a $4.30 RunSignup fee through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, November 8. After that it goes up to $45 plus $4.64. 5K team entries are $35 before the cutoff and $40 after. The 1-mile is $25 before and $30 after. Online registration for all three stays open until 9 a.m. on race day.

The Friday after, past the end of the road

Sandbridge Road keeps going past the restaurant to the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge parking lot. False Cape State Park's holiday programs all leave from that lot. The day after the Turkey Trot, Friday, November 27, False Cape runs its #OptOutside Hike from noon to 4 p.m. The park bills it as a way to "start a new tradition the Friday after Thanksgiving," according to the Virginia DCR events calendar. The Virginia Beach Christmas Market is going on the same weekend, November 27 to 29, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center, so the shopping crowd will be up there that afternoon.

If you'd rather ride than hike, the Blue Goose Wildlife & History Tram Tour is a four-hour guided trip through the refuge and into False Cape. It runs noon to 4 p.m. on November 8, 15, 22 and 29. False Cape After Dark, a night hike, runs from 5 to 8 p.m. on November 21, the day after the Trail of Lights opens. So you could walk lit-up woods on Owl Creek on Friday night and dark ones at False Cape on Saturday night.

New Year's Day brings you back to the same parking lot. On January 1, 2027, False Cape's "Welcome to Wash Woods" program runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., exploring the park's coastal habitats and the old hamlet of Wash Woods. It leaves from the same Back Bay lot.

The season on one calendar

In date order, most of the Sandbridge events start from the same few miles of Sandbridge Road.

December 5 is the busiest day of the season. Pungo Country Christmas, now in its second year, fills Pungo Square in the afternoon with music, vendors, photo stations and food donations, and has a rain date of December 6. The Holiday Parade at the Beach steps off on Atlantic Avenue at 5:30 that evening. A week later, Virginia Beach Parks & Recreation's Chill at the Hill at Mount Trashmore is free to get in and free to park, with a drone show at 7:45 p.m.

Our team is a proud sponsor of Charlie Normile's Turkey Trot, and we'd be glad to see you at the start line on Sandbridge Road on Thanksgiving morning. If you have questions about the season out here, from the Back Bay programs to which weekend fits family visiting from out of town, the neighbors at Sandbridge Life are happy to help. Get in Touch.