St. Augustine commission votes to set Nights of Lights season through MLK weekend after heated public debate

The St. Augustine City Commission voted 3–2 on March 26 to set the city’s Nights of Lights illumination season to begin the Saturday before Thanksgiving and end the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, following more than three hours of public comment and two technical presentations.

Supporters and critics of the city’s holiday lighting schedule filled the commission chambers and gave split testimony that framed the decision: residents and neighborhood leaders pressed for a shorter, less intense season to reduce traffic and preserve quality of life, while hoteliers, restaurateurs and tour operators warned that shortening January would depress business and cost jobs.

The commission heard two formal presentations ahead of public comment. Melinda Reconsi, president of the Neighborhood Council, summarized a resident survey of 443 respondents who reported heavy impacts from the event: “62% feel that Nights has exceeded its capacity,” she said, and “89% of the residents believe that Nights of Lights prioritizes tourism over the quality of life.” The St. Johns County Visitor and Convention Bureau commissioned an economic and visitation study presented by Isaiah Lewis of Downes & St. Germain Research. Lewis gave headline figures the bureau said were a baseline for future study: roughly 372,000 estimated attendees for the 2025–26 season, 279,600 from outside the county, about $93.7 million in direct out-of-county visitor spending and a total estimated economic impact near $120.7 million.

Commissioners questioned methodology, including whether the study’s focus on lodging understates restaurant and attraction spending and how zip-code aggregation (32084) masks local variation. VCB and research staff said the study is a first step and that the VCB will fund continued data collection at no cost to the city.

During public comment, neighborhood residents emphasized emergency-access concerns and the day-to-day burden of two months of high traffic and blocked access to homes. Business owners and the Chamber of Commerce urged caution before making shortened dates permanent, saying some downtown businesses reported January revenue declines and that predictable annual dates are necessary for contracts and bookings. “Each week of Nights of Lights represents three weeks to a month of expenses to cover our employees, vendors, insurance, rent and liabilities,” one downtown business owner told commissioners.

After public comment, Commissioner Cynthia Garris moved to restore the earlier November start (the Saturday before Thanksgiving) and to end the season the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. weekend; Commissioner Jim Springfield seconded. The motion passed on a roll-call vote, 3–2 (Garris, Springfield and DePrater voting yes; Vice Mayor Barbara Blonder and Mayor Nancy Sykes Klein voting no).

The commission’s action will set the event calendar and allow the city, the VCB and businesses to plan hiring, shuttle routes and parking operations with more certainty. Commissioners and staff stressed that further operational work remains: improving shuttle access, satellite parking, enforcement of pop-up parking, and more granular economic and origin-market data to refine long-term policy.

What’s next: staff and the VCB said they will continue data collection and planning work; the commission set a May 8 workshop to discuss vehicle-for-hire and franchise ordinances and asked staff to pursue improved shuttle and parking solutions ahead of next season.