Dickson City’s Riverfront Park is now brighter and more festive.
The borough will hold its 11th annual “Let There Be Lights” Christmas event on Sunday at its newest park at 816 Enterprise St., unveiling a Nay Aug Park-inspired holiday light display where visitors can drive through a paved loop around Riverfront Park during the holidays, council President Jeff Kovaleski said. Dickson City also recently completed installing 19 light fixtures throughout the park to illuminate it at night.
“We’re going to unveil our new lights around the park because they’re up and ready to go,” Kovaleski said. “We wanted to make that like a mini Nay Aug.”
A Christmas decoration stands in Riverfront Park in Dickson City as DPW employees work on the remainder of the decorations Thursday, November 20, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A Christmas tree will be put together and decorated in Dickson City’s Riverfront Park Thursday, November 20, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
New light posts were installed around the perimeter of Dickson City’s Riverfront Park Thursday, November 20, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
New light posts were installed around the perimeter of Dickson City’s Riverfront Park Thursday, November 20, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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A Christmas decoration stands in Riverfront Park in Dickson City as DPW employees work on the remainder of the decorations Thursday, November 20, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The free Christmas festivities will be from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, with food, treats, games and activities organized under a large tent at the park, in addition to a magic show from 3 to 5 p.m. featuring Damian the Magician, horse and carriage rides around the park from 3 to 6 p.m., and local school choirs will perform, according to an event schedule. Santa and Mrs. Claus will arrive at 5:30 p.m., with coloring contest winners announced at 5:45 and a Christmas tree lighting at 5:50.
The town will continue to light up its Christmas display every weekend through January, Kovaleski said.
Dickson City opened its Riverfront Park in October 2023 to serve as a dog park with sections for large and small animals, with other amenities including a Lackawanna River boat launch and fishing area, a walking trail, picnic tables and benches.
The idea for the park came from a 2017 petition when about 800 people signed the document requesting a dog park in Dickson City. The borough moved forward with the project three years later when it bought the land in July 2020 for $150,000 from Gibbons Ford, which had used the space to store trailers.
Dickson City historically held its Let There Be Lights event at the Borough Building on Enterprise Street, but this year will be the first time it’s held at Riverfront Park, said Kovaleski, who previously envisioned using Riverfront for Christmas festivities. Roughly 300 to 400 people attend the celebration each year, he said.
The borough already plans to expand its light display for 2026, he said.
“We don’t have all … the Christmas lights in that we want, and next year that’ll be fully adorned,” Kovaleski said. “But this year we have some lights and some nice blow-ups that will be around the park.”
The Dickson City Christmas Light and Decorative Banner Association does fundraising to pay for the lights and decorations, he said. In addition to Riverfront’s display, the association also funded additional Christmas decorations along Main Street, he said.
Riverfront has become Dickson City’s most-used park, with people using the park for their dogs, to fish on the Lackawanna River and to walk, Kovaleski said.
Future plans for Riverfront Park include building a pavilion, adding playground equipment and constructing a pedestrian bridge to the nearby Polonia Park, Kovaleski said. He hopes to finish the pavilion potentially in the winter or early spring, though the playground and bridge probably won’t materialize until 2027, he said.
“This park has been utilized the most, but it’s really nice to be able to see it lit up at Christmas time,” he said. “It’s been a fantastic recreational complex, really, for the borough and for its residents.”