Around this time each year, as temperatures dip and chilly winds breeze through the city, we are often tempted to hurry inside our homes, desperate to curl up with cozy blankets and hot beverages. Through the windows of many homes, the warm halo of carefully arranged holiday lights glows, cutting through the dark.
Throughout Fayetteville, holiday lights events offer fun and festivity for everyone, encouraging us to venture outside our dens and experience what the season has to offer. From glowing dugouts to illuminated nature displays, the true spirit of the holiday season shines, even on the frostiest nights.
Segra Stadium
Each winter for its Fayetteville Holiday Lights event, the home of the beloved Fayetteville Woodpeckers trades its baseball gloves and bats for garlands and holiday spirit.
Since 2021, Segra Stadium has packed every inch of its space with twinkling lights—more than 2 million, the team’s General Manager Michelle Skinner told CityView.
Andrew Chapman, a Woodpeckers broadcaster, said planning for the almost month-long event begins in late September, shortly after their popular Pecktoberfest event (in celebration of Oktoberfest) concludes. He said that lining the massive stadium and field requires a true team effort, but the results always pay off.
“We don’t hire a crew or anything to come in, it’s just all us,” Chapman said. “There are a couple of guys in our office who do the majority of the work, and then we have a few all-hands-on-deck days where everybody funnels out of the office. Once it’s all lit up at night, you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s why I was putting in all this work.’”
“It’s nice to get people back in the winter and be a hub to the community when baseball’s out of season,” Skinner said.
The Woodpecker’s team is continually working to grow the event, Chapman said, adding more lights and displays each year. This year the event boasts larger displays, new theme nights, and giveaways—including a specialized holiday jersey for one lucky attendee.
The Fayetteville Holiday Lights at Segra Stadium opened on November 28, and will welcome holiday-light-lookers almost every night through December 31. To see a full schedule, purchase tickets, or find more information, visit the Fayetteville Holiday Lights event website.
Sweet Valley Ranch
What does a field of glowing dinosaurs, a nativity scene—complete with a 17-foot angel—and live animals adorned with holiday lights have in common? Fred and Anita Surgeon, owners of Sweet Valley Ranch, and their team are excited to make the connection this holiday season.
The Festival of Lights at Sweet Valley Ranch, Fred said, is a favorite in the community. From their drive-thru holiday lights display to Tiny’s Winter Wonderland, a free activity space for guests to enjoy holiday movies and crackling fire pits, the ranch offers multitudes of holiday fun.
The Surgeons love Christmas, Fred said, a glimmer in his eyes as he spoke about the expansion of the festival over the years. With the addition of new buildings, like their guest cabins that opened for overnight guests earlier this year, comes the exciting task of deciding how to decorate for the holidays. The ranch has worked with vendors and artists from across the globe to design custom light displays, offering a unique and one-of-a-kind spectacle to the Fayetteville community.
Beginning as early as June, Sweet Valley Ranch begins stringing lights to ensure the over 350 animal residents of the ranch—including new additions like emus for the 2025 season—are comfortable and prepared for holiday festivities. When all the decorating has been done, the lights number in the millions.
For Fred, creating a positive space for the community, creating memories, and giving back during the holiday season are critical.
“Family and community and faith: it’s essential. It’s the lifeblood of our city … what better way to reinforce that than by having something where everything about it is positive,” Fred said of the festival.
Fred explained that this year, through their “Sweet Valley Ranch Gives Back” initiative, more than $30,000 in grant funding will be awarded to several nonprofit and faith-based organizations in the community. The recipients will be announced early this month.
The Festival of Lights at Sweet Valley Ranch opened November 28 with more dates from December 5-6, 12-14, 19-23, and 26-27, offering drive-thru light displays, free holiday activities, and a space for community to all who attend. For a complete schedule and ticketing information, visit the event website.
Arnette Park
Beginning in 2010, Christmas in the Park turns Arnette Park into a winter wonderland for 12 nights throughout December. Led by the Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks & Recreation Department, this free drive-thru holiday lights event—which spans just under one mile in length—offers over a million lights for eager holiday spectacle enthusiasts.
Brian Christopher, special events coordinator for the Parks & Recreation Department, told CityView that the planning and preparation process for this longstanding event begins in late September, and lights begin to adorn the park in November. He said the team all works together to make sure the event runs smoothly, and with over a decade’s worth of experience under their belts, they have it down to a science.
“Our Parks & Recreation crew,” Christopher said. “They take a lot of pride in this.” He explained that the department adds new displays every year, so even well-seasoned light viewers have surprises in store.
This event is free, open to the public, and operated from 6-9 p.m. on December 7-11, 14-18, and 21-22. For more information about Christmas in the Park and other holiday events hosted by the Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks & Recreation Department, visit the department’s events website.
Cape Fear Botanical Garden
Cape Fear Botanical Garden glows each December with more than a million twinkling LED lights, encasing more than 20 landscaped areas in light. Since its beginning in 2012, Holiday Lights in the Garden has grown into a beloved winter tradition, drawing over 16,000 visitors in recent years, Sheila Hanrick, director of marketing, events, and guest services, said.
This year’s theme, “Harmony in Nature”—a new endeavor by the garden team—will offer nature-themed displays in tandem with time-honored classics that Fayetteville residents know and love. Two old holiday rivals—Santa and the Grinch—will also make special appearances among the lights displays, Hanrick said, with photographers on standby to ensure that those sweet holiday memories are captured. The Heritage Garden, a historically themed section within the larger Botanical Garden, will also be accessible, lit with warm-toned lights and 1800s-themed displays.
While walking along the carefully lit paths, a spirit of community and togetherness during the holiday season grows at Cape Fear Botanical Garden.
“The one thing about the holiday spirit is that it brings out the best in us,” Hanrick said. “Every person can become a kid again at Christmas, and we need to foster that all year long.”
This year’s Holiday Lights in the Garden will welcome guests from 5-9 p.m. December 5-7, 11-14, and 18-22. For more information, visit Cape Fear Botanical Garden’s website.
Holiday lights have long been a favorite marker of the holiday season, and something about the extra illumination makes this season the most welcoming of all. From grand shows of millions of carefully arranged lights to the gentle twinkle of a single strand through foggy windows, the season offers more than just candle lighting and holiday feasts. One glowing bulb at a time, this season gives us opportunities to connect with the community—and that may be the greatest gift of all.
Read CityView Magazine’s “The Holiday Issue” December 2025 e-edition here.
