Humbug! Traffic woes end Orange Festival of Lights

Orange County has pulled the plug on the Festival of Lights and Light Up the Wild, popular holiday attractions where unexpected crowds created traffic nightmares last year.

Parks and Recreation Director Matt Suedmeyer said his staff concluded they could not regulate traffic swarming into the venues to see twinkling light displays.

“We had miles and miles of back ups,” he said, recalling the crowds that snarled traffic around both parks where the events were held.

In just two days, more than 2,000 cars jammed the Holden Avenue entrance to Cypress Grove Park, which featured the $3-per-carload Festival of Lights for 14 years. That crowd was three times larger than in 2014.

Flash crowds also caused problems last year for residents living near Moss Park, where the recreation department had staged Light Up the Wild since 2012.

Suedmeyer was thrust last year into the role of holiday killjoy by an avalanche of complaints from Edgewood residents, some of whom reported traffic added as much as an hour to their commute home.

He said his staff considered alternatives to a shutdown this season, including requiring presale tickets and stacking idling vehicles inside the parks.

But they doubted either would halt the flow of visitors who come to look at whimsical light displays depicting Santa, elves and other holiday scenes.

Suedmeyer and his staff have decided instead to spread the cheer around the county this holiday season.

The displays will be divided among six parks and set up at the entrances so families can at least can drive by and take a look from Dec. 12 through Christmas night.

Besides Cypress Park and Moss Park, the other venues are Barnett Park, 4801 W. Colonial Drive, Orlando; Downey Park, 10107 Flowers Ave., Orlando; Magnolia Park, 2929 S. Binion Road, Apopka; and the Marks Street Senior Recreation Center, 99 E. Marks St., Orlando.