British ColumbiaThe annual Bright Lights event is coming to Surrey, B.C., after than more than two decades in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. Organizers say they were forced to move the event after the miniature train in Stanely Park was taken out of commission.Move comes after Stanley Park train was deemed inoperable for the rest of 2025CBC News · Posted: Sep 18, 2025 1:04 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoPeople are seen taking in the sights of Bright Nights in Stanley Park in downtown Vancouver, B.C., Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. The annual event is moving this year, and will instead take place at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds as part of the Noel Holiday Light Festival. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)The Bright Lights fundraising event is coming to Surrey, B.C., after more than 25 years in Vancouver’s Stanley Park. The annual holiday lights show will take place at the Cloverdale Fairgrounds as part of the Noel Holiday Light Festival, which runs from Nov. 28 to Dec. 28.The event is one of the largest fundraisers for the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund.At Stanley Park, the event featured a 15-minute ride on a vintage, miniature train through the forest, which was decorated in holiday lights.Jeff Sauvé, the executive director of the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, told CBC News Bright Nights was no longer feasible after the Stanley Park train was deemed inoperable for the rest of 2025. WATCH | Bright Lights fundraiser heads to Surrey:Bright Nights holiday display moves to SurreyA long-standing yuletide event in Vancouver’s Stanley Park has found a new home this holiday season. CBC’s Michelle Ghoussoub has a preview, as Bright Nights heads to Surrey.Todd Schierling, who is president of the fund, said Wednesday that the organization had to explore other options.”When we knew things were probably not going to come to fruition with the trains … I assigned my team to do a reconnaissance search, if you will, to size up the situation through the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley and they found the Noel festival in Surrey,” Schierling said.The Vancouver Park Board said commissioners and staff were not made aware that Bright Nights was leaving the city.Earlier this month, the park board announced that the Harry Potter Forbidden Forest Experience — a temporary immersive attraction — will open in Stanley Park in November. Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said the Cloverdale grounds will be able to accommodate more visitors than Stanley Park.She also noted that the Bright Lights event has its roots in Surrey. In the mid-1980s Bob Wingfield and Marg Barrett created a popular Christmas light display at their Newton home that raised funds for burn survivors. They donated their light collection to the firefighters’ burn fund in 1997, and they were used for the Bright Nights event at Stanley Park. Locke said Vancouver’s loss is Surrey’s gain. “We’re keeping it,” Locke said. “It’s home. It’s where it needs to be, it’s where the families and children are.”With files from Michelle Ghoussoub, Justin McElroy and Akshay Kulkarni
Bright Lights event moves from Stanley Park to Surrey’s Cloverdale Fairgrounds
