Holiday Lights at Shore Acres fills the state park with more than 325,000 LED lights. The tradition started in 1987, and every year draws large crowds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve to the remote park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The OregonianJamie Hale/The Oregonian

Holiday lights are expected to glimmer once again at Shore Acres State Park, marking the return of one of the best holiday events in Oregon.

The southern coast event, which was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is scheduled to make a comeback from Nov. 24 to Dec. 31, 2022, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department announced Tuesday.

Known for its numerous beautiful light displays, the event draws huge crowds to the coastal park every holiday season. In 2019, the last year it was held, it drew nearly 60,000 visitors, the parks department said.

There will, however, be a change for the 2022 light show: In addition to paying the park’s regular $5 parking fee, visitors must now also reserve their spot ahead of time, as the event moves to a timed-entry system.

Tickets can be reserved online at oregonstateparks.reserveamerica.com, or by calling 800-452-5687. To gain entry, each party needs to show up at the designated time and present its ticket at the park entrance. Tickets will not be sold onsite.

Reservations are available online now, but more spots will be released later this fall in a seven-day rolling window, the parks department said. Starting Nov. 18, tickets will be made available one-week in advance. The rolling tickets will be available through Dec. 31, the last night of the event.

“We realize that it’s early for many families to make November and December plans and we want people to have an opportunity for spur-of-the-moment visits,” Lee Ricci, park manager for the Sunset Bay Management Unit, said in a news release. “We’re holding half the parking sites for that rolling seven-day window to ensure visitors can reserve closer to the event.”

Holiday Lights at Shore Acres fills the state park with more than 325,000 LED lights. The tradition started in 1987, and every year draws large crowds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve to the remote park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The OregonianJamie Hale/The Oregonian

Holiday Lights at Shore Acres fills the state park with more than 325,000 LED lights. The tradition started in 1987, and every year draws large crowds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve to the remote park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The OregonianJamie Hale/The Oregonian

Holiday Lights at Shore Acres fills the state park with more than 325,000 LED lights. The tradition started in 1987, and every year draws large crowds between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve to the remote park on the southern Oregon coast. Jamie Hale/The OregonianJamie Hale/The Oregonian

State park officials said the new permits should help alleviate traffic congestion on Cape Arago Highway, the back road that also leads to neighboring Sunset Bay and Cape Arago state parks, all found just outside of Coos Bay. In previous years, the traffic has blocked side roads and hindered emergency access, officials said.

Volunteers and park rangers have set up the Holiday Lights at Shore Acres every year since 1987, hosting the event between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve. In all, some 325,000 lights typically make up the display, according to Friends of Shore Acres, lining hedges and exteriors of the buildings, as well as wire frames shaped into all manner of sea creatures.

Shore Acres stands on ground that was once home to the most-luxurious home in Oregon, a palatial estate built in 1905 by local shipbuilder and lumberman Louis J. Simpson. Today, all that remains is Simpson’s formal English garden, brought back to life and kept up by volunteers since the 1970s.

In warmer months, Shore Acres is bustling with visitors, there to stroll the grounds, look out at the Pacific Ocean or visit the small sandy beach named for Simpson. The park is also known as one of the best storm-watching destinations on the Oregon coast.

--Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB

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