Santa Maria Fairpark kicks off new drive-thru Festival of Lights

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – It's beginning to look like Christmas at the Santa Maria Fairpark.

A new holiday light display opens Friday night, in hopes of raising money to keep the business open.

The Festival of Lights was bright and merry with dozens of cars driving through to see the course filled with Christmas lights.

The Santa Maria Fairpark is working with local businesses and organizations to turn the fairgrounds into a winter wonderland.

It's a 20 minute drive through journey filled with Christmas trees, lights, and more.

The Fairpark has been struggling financially since the beginning of the pandemic, and had to cancel major money making events like the Santa Maria Strawberry Festival and the Santa Barbara County Fair due to COVID-19.

Fairpark staff members say they are hopeful that this event will be a great turn out and will help them keep their lights on.

“We are really excited to be able to put this forward, because everytime we do an event like this, it gets us further into the following year with hopefully we can open again,” said Interim CEO of Santa Maria Fariparks Autumn Acquistapace.

A special holiday store called Jingle Mingle Holiday Market will be open as well, and a small craft fair is open to the public with 20% capacity this Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Tickets for the three day event are sold on the Fairpark's website for $35 dollars, click here for more information.