Redmond Lights

My favorite community event. We’ve attended every single year. Yes, there are lots of people, so be prepared for that. But that’s part of what we love about it. The whole community comes out to celebrate.
The aspects that I’m particularly fond of: the steel drums, the bagpipes, the carols, the balloon glow, the bell-​ringers, the intoxicating aromas of so many different cuisines at Redmond Town Center, the fact that so many people get to experience the spectacular trails around and through the city.

This event was awful due to the amount of people that were there. We went right when the tree lighting and walk started, and there were waaaaaayyyy too many people to enjoy even one part of the event. But if you came any later, there still would have been hundreds of people and you wouldn’t get to the town center in time to enjoy any of the activities there.
All the pros have an immediate con, so they aren’t actually pros.
All in all, if there were not mass amounts of people, it would have been a great event. They had a great idea, but it’s not for that amount of traffic.
Pros:
–great for families, date night, group of friends, dogs, anyone would enjoy it
–free
–they hand out blinking lights for free and have hundreds of them
–entertainment along the path including choirs, fire dancers, hoop dancers, bag pipes.
Cons:
–well over a thousand people go on the Redmond lights walk, so it ends up being a slow and long line — picture a line at Disneyland on a crowded day.
–the walking path is too small to fit everyone
–the entertainment is only seen by the part of the crowd closest to it
–for example, as you walk there was a choir singing and hot chocolate, but most of us couldn’t even see anything let alone get near the hot chocolate stand because of the massive crowd
–the hot air balloons didn’t stay lit, they were dark most of the time time except for a few seconds one would light up. I don’t know what the point was.
–there were colorful lights in different shapes on part of the walk, but kids were kicking them and rolling them around. They are not toys and are not meant to be touched, but parents didn’t seem to care.
–if you wanted a blinking light and you didn’t magically run into a person handing them out, you had to stand in a huge crowd to get to a kiosk and get one.
–once you get to the town center they had less than a handful of kiosks and were typical advertisement stands — not activities.
–the reindeer looked so depressed as hoards of people were in its face with flashes on their cameras

I’m surprised that there are no prior reviews for this wonderful annual event. My family and I have participated in every single Redmond Lights night save for one (when it was pouring rain a few years back). I don’t exactly recall when exactly this event began, but it’s been at least 12 years. Perhaps 14 or 15. I remember going on the first Redmond Lights walk one December night many years ago, along the Sammamish slough trail, from City Hall to a grassy loop just south of Redmond City Hall. There there was an illuminated Christmas tree, and Mayor Ives spoke and Santa arrived on a Redmond fire truck, lights and sirens blazing. And there were fireworks, and it was wonderful.
Much has changed since that early event, but it’s still a wonderful event! There’s a new City Hall, and there are always tons of kiosks on City Hall campus. They still hand out free blinkers, but now thousands show up for this event. You can get free drinks and foods and some fun swag. Kids can decorate cookies and there’s usually face painters, and choirs singing and dancing performers on a stage by the Public Security building. This last year they had, for the first time, a beautiful carnival set up for the kiddies, and that was a huge hit! Oh, and now the City’s official XMas tree is now here, at City Hall, and Santa arrives here to illuminate it.
After the official lighting of the tree, it’s off to go on the walk on the slough trail! And now it’s more amazing than ever! Remember, this is all done at night, so it’s very dramatic, seeing thousands of flashing lights (from the blinkers) moving down the trail. The paved pathway is illuminated by thousands of luminaries, and there are many articulating light displays and inflatables along the way as well. Plus, there are singers and performers at various points along the way. Plus there are bonfires at Luke McRedmond Park. Sometimes they have humongous colorful hot air balloons just east of the Leary Way bridge, but this last year this feature was not present, nor was the usual penned area of farm animals by the living nativity scene (despite my kids being disappointed in the animals’ absence, I was rather pleased, as I always thought this event must be stressful for the goats and lambs, etc.). Thank goodness they still dole out free (and delicious!) hot chocolate, as our fingers are usually cold by the time we reach the Leary bridge!
Now the walk ends in Town Center proper. And boy, is it a hopping place! Here is where they have tons of kiosks, samples, performers and singers/​choirs on the RTC stage, a chili cook-​off between the Redmond police and fire departments (this used to be done on the City Hall campus), and crafts for the kids to do. I like how they always have a Jewish tent for kids to learn about Chanukah and get dreidels and make menorahs. There are police officers there with a police motorcycle, and firemen with a ladder truck, and the kids (and many adults!) love taking photos on the cycle and truck, and chatting with the officers and firemen (all of whom are SO nice!).
In years past, they always had a free shuttle going back and forth to and from RTC and City Hall, so people don’t have to walk back to their cars. Used to be, in the early years of this event, there were golf carts lit up in XMas lights that would bring people back and forth. The last 8+ years, there were old, yellow school buses. This past year, they had luxury, large Microsoft shuttle buses (they were like tour buses: huge and very plush! Plus, they accommodated way more people. What an improvement!). The buses come very regularly, so there’s never a long wait (despite the long line of people waiting), and there’s a Victorian quartet by the bus stop, singing Christmas carols acapella (this quartet is there annually, and they are excellent, btw!).
Every year, this event gets bigger and bigger. I think this event is one of the best events put on by the City of Remond. We prefer it to the annual Derby Days in the summer. It’s visually beautiful, and everyone is always in a holiday spirit. It’s very uplifting. And it’s FREE! Can’t beat that!