NW Valley Times

The 74th annual Winterhaven Festival of Lights began Saturday, Dec. 9, and runs through Monday, Dec. 25, from 6 - 10 p.m. nightly. This holiday celebration is also a major fundraiser for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. In 2022, the Tucson community donated $57,336 and 42,016 pounds of food to the Food Bank during the Festival of Lights.
This holiday celebration has been the Winterhaven neighborhood's gift to our community since 1949. This year, we can show our appreciation and holiday spirit by being great neighbors and guests in Winterhaven and the neighborhoods surrounding the event. Check out our guidance to learn more.

For so many of us in the Tucson community, walking, or taking a trolley or hayride through Winterhaven during the Festival of Lights has become a holiday tradition for our families. As our population has grown, and as more of us take advantage of this opportunity to celebrate and support the Food Bank, we sometimes have created challenges for the neighbors in the neighborhoods around the event area. The City of Tucson and the Winterhaven neighborhood are asking our community to think about how we can make this event better for all of us including:

No Speeding in the Event Area

• The event draws tens of thousands of our community members and speeds will be reduced in the event area. When driving through the Winterhaven event area please remember to SLOW DOWN as there will be literally hundreds, if not thousands, of pedestrians crossing Ft. Lowell, Country Club, Prince, and Tucson Boulevard from around 5:30 - 10:30 p.m. nightly. None of us wants to be a part of a tragedy in our community at any time, let alone during the holidays.

• The Tucson Police Department (TPD) will have traffic enforcement in the event area and will be working to ensure that motorists are complying with speed reductions and traffic controls.

Pay Attention to Public Safety Personnel, Traffic Signage, & Traffic Signals, Including HAWKs

• There will be TPD officers and community safety officers (CSOs) both in the Winterhaven neighborhood and staffing the major intersections and pedestrian HAWK crossings in the event area. Drivers and pedestrians in the event area should stay aware and follow any directions given by our officers supporting this event. They are there to keep us safe and help to make this event a great success for our community.

• There will be electronic message boards located on both Prince Road and Ft. Lowell Road identifying the event area and helping to make motorists aware of their need to reduce their speed.

Pay Careful Attention to Where You Park

• Parking violations will be enforced in the event impact area which includes all of the neighborhoods surrounding Winterhaven. We don't want to be "Grinchy" at the holiday and ticket anyone but we will, especially if it is impacting a homeowner accessing their property, blocking visibility for safe driving, or creating any other safety issue. Park Tucson provides some great parking safety tips to keep motorists in compliance with City Code which include:

•    Being aware of signage to alert you to restricted parking areas.

•    Parking with both of your wheels within 18 inches of any curb. This will keep your vehicle out of travel lanes and away from bicyclists moving with vehicular traffic.

•    Leaving some distance between your vehicle and all driveways, alleys, intersections, traffic control devices, and of course, fire hydrants.

•    Not blocking driveways, alleys, or traffic control devices such as stop signs.

Carpool and Use Transit

• A great way to minimize parking impacts in the festival event area is to carpool with friends and family, reducing the number of cars entering and trying to park in the event area.

• Another great way to minimize the impacts and eliminate your need to find parking is to use Sun Tran to attend the event

•    Learn more about using Sun Tran to attend the event at www.SunTran.com/winterhaven

•    Routes 17 and 34 provide great access to the event and run on approximately 1/2 hour schedules M-F and approximately one-hour schedules on the weekend.

•    Map of Stops Near Winterhaven Festival of Lights

Dispose of Garbage

Almost all of us create a waste stream when we attend events like this. Maybe it is snack wrappers, cups or bottles from drinks that we purchase or bring with us, or even diapers or animal waste. We should not just leave this waste on the streets or in front of neighborhood homes. That is not much of holiday treat for the neighbors who live in the event area. Options for dealing with the waste we create include:

• Disposing of it in the 300 gallon barrels provided by City of Tucson Environmental Services in the event area - Map of Barrel Locations can be found at this link.

• Taking recyclable items home with you to place in your blue barrel. There will not be recycling receptacles at the festival as loads for events of this nature get contaminated and will ruin combined loads leading to more waste heading to the landfill.  

• Bringing a bag with you to take your garbage home to place in your waste barrel.

Original source can be found here.