A trail of taillights extended down Stratford Drive on Sunday night. As we wended along that neighborhood street, which served as this year’s only point of entry for an enduring Austin holiday tradition, strangers in nearby vehicles waved cheerfully and a county police officer squinted suspiciously – all because I’d wrapped our van in glowing string lights. In 2020, when there are no Christmas parties, showing your holiday spirit requires some adaptation.
That’s especially true for Austin Trail of Lights. The glistening gauntlet of seasonal cheer that’s been a holiday staple at Zilker Park since the Sixties has converted into a drive-through experience this year.
Sunday’s sold-out grand opening prompted rush-hourlike traffic on the singular access road, but it moved steadily and we were in the gate in less than 20 minutes. If you think about it, that’s about how long it’d take to park and walk up to the event in a normal year. Elves scanned our pass, handed us a box of cookies, and directed us to tune our radio to 97.9FM just in time to hear Asleep at the Wheel’s “Merry Texas Christmas, Y’all.” Driving into the expanse of bulbs, I spotted a lighted rendering of H-E-Buddy riding on a sleigh.
When I see that anthropomorphic grocery bag with a Santa hat on, I know that Christmas is near. Seriously: In this subtropical climate where snow scarcely falls, seasonal merriment must – to some degree – be signaled. That’s why Trail of Lights feels important, because somehow I end up there every year – either because my girlfriend is bartending the event, or I have family in town that wants to do something Christmassy, or my friends and I took LSD and want to walk through cool tunnels of lights. Regardless, when I think of Christmas in Austin, I think of this winter wonderland without snow.
In many ways, Trail of Lights felt unchanged. There was the 12 Days of Christmas display, that giant fiberglass jackalope with the shining red nose, Santa’s workshop, the merry dinosaurs, Candy Land, and great glowing underpasses. Still, the 15-minute cruise felt unusually serene without the kinetic crowds. It’s worth noting that, in the previous century, there were times when Trail of Lights had been vehicle oriented, so the drive-through situation isn’t unprecedented. Still, I was impressed that no one crashed into another car’s bumper, given that everyone’s looking out the window.
There were upsides to being contained to a car: fewer crowds, more warmth, and not having kids waving around cheap light-up toys next to your head. At the same time, there were things I really missed: seeing local bands on the stage, eating at the food carts, running into friends, and standing beneath that enormous pyramid of string lights they call the Zilker Holiday Tree and spinning in a circle while looking up until I’m dizzy. The drive-through experience – floating along in your bubble – wasn’t really better or worse than past Trail of Lights; it’s just perfectly 2020.
Austin Trail of Lights runs through Jan. 3. Passes range from $25-60 per vehicle.
This article appears in The 2020 Gift Guide Issue.