![\"Fantasy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/sjm-l-pizarro-col-1128.jpg\")
Fantasy of Lights, a popular holiday light show attraction at Vasona Lake County
\nPark, is ending drive-through tours in 2026. for the first time in its 27-year history. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bay Area residents interested in visiting the Fantasy of Lights, one of the region\u2019s most popular Christmas traditions, are going to be walking in a winter wonderland this year. And walking only. Because driving won\u2019t be allowed.<\/p>\n
For the first time in the 27-year history of the event \u2014 an annual holiday light and animated display with more than 50 large lighted Santas, dinosaurs, penguins and other characters \u2014 that draws thousands of people every December to Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos, Santa Clara County officials have decided that cars will be prohibited.<\/p>\n
They also have cut back the days significantly from 23 last December \u2014 when cars could drive through from Dec. 9-30 and there were two days for pedestrians\u2013 to four this year, with no cars and walkers only on Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13. Prices have increased also, to $25 per adult, up from $17 last year, and $10 per child, up from $8 last year. A typical family of four this year will spend $70 to get in to walk, up from $50 last year, and more than twice the $30-per-car fee last year to drive.<\/p>\n
Santa Clara County Parks Director Todd Lofgren said the changes are aimed at saving the county money.<\/p>\n
The event lost $948,537 last year, he said, and $792,160 the year before that. And $796,818 in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be financially prudent with public funds,\u201d said Lofgren, who came from Portland last year to take the helm of the department. \u201cThis event doesn\u2019t have to break even. But it should be close to breaking even.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holding a walking only event with fewer days not only saves on staffing costs for dozens of county parks employees who work the event, some on overtime at night, he said, but it also allows organizers to have a smaller footprint, which saves the costs they pay an outside contractor to set it all up.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand this is a beloved community event,\u201d Lofgren said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t make the decision lightly. We are looking for ways to continue the event and find a way that is more financially sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the moves, which were not voted on by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, have caused a holiday hullabaloo.<\/p>\n
Longtime lovers of the lights festival say that not allowing cars to drive through the park and see the lights on the 0.9-mile-long route will make it difficult for elderly people, families with young children and people with disabilities to enjoy the Yuletide tradition as they have in years past.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked county parks to reconsider if this was the right thing to do,\u201d said Los Gatos Mayor Rob Moore, who has gone every year since he was a child. \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know if it was clear to them how much of a hornet\u2019s nest this would stir up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under this year\u2019s plan, people who buy tickets can park for free at the Netflix headquarters at 121 Albright Way, in Los Gatos, and ride a shuttle to the park.<\/p>\n
Ever since the Santa Clara County parks department posted the new rules online last week, they have been received by many South Bay residents like a lump of coal under the tree.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people have posted comments on Facebook, Nextdoor and other community sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cMakes me sad for all of the people that will miss out because they are not able to do the walk for whatever reason, age, disability etc.,\u201d said Lynda Mack Wootan on the Live Los Gatos Facebook page. \u201cNot a very inclusive choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith an El Ni\u00f1o year?\u201d commented Mark Snoeberger on the same site. \u201cGood luck with that rain!\u201d<\/p>\n
Fantasy of Lights, a popular holiday light show attraction at Vasona Lake County
\nPark, is ending drive-through tours in 2026. for the first time in its 27-year history. (Sal Pizarro\/Bay Area News Group)\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t be going this year,\u201d said Alisa Howell Barry, on the Los Gatos Town Post Facebook site. \u201cMy family enjoys getting hot cocoa and playing Christmas music in our car as we drive through together. Many times it has rained and we still enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper sad!\u201d said Jill Crook McElvy on the same site. \u201cWe have been taking my 93-year-old mother in law for close to 10 years now. She cannot walk and the cold would be too much for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne more Christmas tradition bites the dust,\u201d added Charlie Niemeyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis feels like a big middle finger to the community,\u201d wrote Kelly Barry.<\/p>\n
Marsie Sweetland, a Los Gatos resident who said she has gone for years with her family, asked other local residents to contact Lofgren and Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, whose district includes Los Gatos and Vasona Lake County Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are passionate about this event,\u201d Sweetland said. \u201cThe people I\u2019ve talked to are dismayed that this decision was made due to cost. If that was truly the issue, why not seek more sponsors, ask existing sponsors for more, raise the per-car ticket price, or do all of the above, rather than eliminate the drive-through nights? I sincerely hope this decision can be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, Abe-Koga dressed as Santa and attended the Fantasy of Lights. She posted pictures on her Facebook and Instagram accounts.<\/p>\n
On Monday she said she understands people\u2019s frustrations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a love of the event since my girls were young,\u201d she said. \u201cWe drove through the festival when they were little. It was really nice and convenient. We could put them in the car and drive through in the cold weather. It\u2019s always been a wonderful event. So I totally understand the disappointment. It\u2019s hard to change traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abe-Koga said that the county has had a difficult budget over the past year, in part due to federal cuts from the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cBig Beautiful Bill,\u201d which slashed health and medical funding the county had relied on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a very austere time,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just needed to change things up to respond to the environment we are in. But nothing is ever set in stone. We would certainly want to take people\u2019s input. We can always readjust next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lofgren said that the county will be selling 40,000 tickets for the four days, and giving away 4,000 free to low-income families who will be encouraged to apply for a lottery through the county\u2019s social services departments. He said county parks officials are looking for ways to accommodate the elderly and people with disabilities, and asked that those with special needs reach out to the county parks department by emailing parkinfo@prk.sccgov.org before the event so that arrangements can be made.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a public agency,\u201d Lofgren said. \u201cWe want everyone to enjoy the events we are offering. I know it\u2019s not easy, changing people\u2019s traditions. We want to do everything we can to soften that change.\u201d<\/p>\n