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Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/12/2020
5:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Location
Candlestick Lane
Categories
Traditionally, Urbana’s Candlestick Lane opens the second Saturday in December with a lighting ceremony.
This year (because, 2020) there will not be a ceremony. All the houses on Candlestick Lane will light up at 5 pm. The streets will not be barricaded and cars will be allowed to drive through the streets.
(If you do plan to walk through, please be safe, watch for vehicles, and social distance. There are no sidewalks.)
Note that Candlestick Lane is not actually the name of the real street. That would be Grant Place and surroundings. The nearest major cross street to Candlestick Lane, for reference, is Washington and Philo Road.
Streets include:
- Eastern Drive from Cottage Grove Avenue to Cole Place
- Fairlawn Drive from Cottage Grove Avenue to Patton Place
- Grant Place from Fairlawn Drive to Eastern Avenue
To get there: take Philo Road to Fairlawn, go west. Grant Place is located between Fairlawn and Eastern in Urbana.
After opening, Candlestick Lane will light up every evening from 5 – 10 p.m. through New Year’s Day.
This is a free annual tradition put on by the residents of Grant Place and Eastern Drive in Urbana.
Many of the houses participate by putting up elaborate Christmas lights that vary from classic elegance to inflatables to fun characters and more. Here’s a past story on Candlestick Lane.
Looking for other lights in Champaign-Urbana and beyond? Check out our huge list HERE.
Here’s a video of Candlestick Lane from years past:
(Traditionally, here’s how it’s done; we’re saving this for the nostalgia of it, and hopefully this tradition will return in 2021. According to a Candlestick Lane Committee statement from 2018: “In our 55th year, this Urbana neighborhood celebrates family, friends, our City and the season. Lamplighters will go from house-to-house, pausing at each to signal the home’s first lighting for Christmas season. The crowd will follow the lamplighters and cheer at each home until the entire block is lit for that very first night.”)