May the Portland Winter Light Festival last forever! We are writing in 2026, during the first weekend of this year’s WLF, and already sad that it will end next weekend. It is truly one of the most art-focused events of the year and provides a welcome sense of joy, immersion in art and beauty, and connection with members of the community.
Installations from local sculptural, performance and other visual artists are so numerous that a tour of them all would take more than the several hours each weekend night that the major events are happening.
If you are visiting, the main attractions occur on Friday and Saturday nights — this year that will be February 6 and 7, February 13 and 14 — from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m., although most of the lighted installations are lit throughout the week and many will be in place for another month following the end of the light festival. Three venues have most of the show, with the most exciting, the fire shows, happening nightly at Pioneer Courthouse Square. (As of this writing the fire shows are at 8:30 each evening and last about a half hour.)
The inner eastside, or “Central Eastside Industrial District,” has the most relaxed and meditative exhibits at the so-called Electric Blocks on 236 SE Clay Street. Among the displays here are the silent disco with three different DJs; check out your headphones and switch from channel to channel; and free tea at the T-Horse, a sculptural community space originally envisioned in designs for the Pioneer Courthouse Square back in the 1970s and 80s.
The inner eastside also has events and activations at Jaja PDX at 819 SE Taylor Street, a trippy kaleidoscope-fueled space, and unusual lighted art all over, including the textile art at 10th and SE Division and the Infinity Crystal Cluster at 8th and East Burnside.
Most of the live music is at the World Trade Center stage, which is adjacent to one of the biggest sculptural elements at the Salmon Street Springs. This year the installation is a giant rainbow cuttle fish, Cosmic Cuddle, by Miki Masuhara-Page, Matthew Book Scheick, and Jillian Aspholm. The World Trade Center usually has a large number of interactive elements throughout the complex, many indoors or underneath the building’s roof.
Finding yourself a lighted costume, an illuminated bike or pedicab, or just a warm coat or onesie (we met a sea otter prepping for the Cosmic Ocean dance event at Bridge space) and ride, walk or take the streetcar around the central city to experience the lights all around us.