2021 Festival of Lights Contest

Happy Holidays! Again this year, in lieu of our usual Festival of Lights parade, Rotary Club of Bangor is pleased to offer this fun, festive, and interactive alternative that allows families, friends, and neighbors a chance to enjoy the sights and sounds of the season - safely.

First, we would like to thank all those who registered to participate. Without them, this would not be possible! We appreciate the time, imagination, and effort each of our entrants put into creating their presentations. May the best light displays win! We would also like to thank our partners in this effort: Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau, Downtown Bangor Partnership, and Links Web Design. Thank you for your support!

We encourage you to begin at West Market Square in Downtown Bangor where you can pose for photos in front of the City of Bangor Holiday Tree, decorated with beautiful, updated lighting courtesy of Bangor Rotary Club!

NEW THIS YEAR: Drop your letters to Santa in our awesome new North Pole Mailbox located just under the tree!

As a reminder, we have four categories for you to vote on:

• Outstanding Non-Profit display
• Outstanding Residential display
• Outstanding Neighborhood display
• Outstanding Commercial display
• Outstanding Municipal display

The display that receives the most overall votes from all five categories above will be awarded Best Overall/Fan Favorite and will receive a $500 cash prize! Plaques will be presented to all other winners.

There are a couple of ways you can follow along to view the displays:

1. Scroll down this page and click each participant in order, following the map included in that listing.
2. Visit our Maps page and follow the route provided for a particular category (so you can view all municipal entries together, or all residential entries together, etc.)

A few housekeeping items to keep in mind:

• Please travel safely! Drivers may become distracted when looking at the displays, so be sure to use caution at all times (and watch out for other cars doing the same!) If you must pull over to the side of the street or road, be sure to use your blinkers, and pull well out of the line of traffic.
• Please be respectful of our participants property. In some cases, participants may have set up places for you to get out and snap a few photos; please be sure to maintain social distancing and adhere to masking guidelines as set by the State of Maine and CDC when enjoying these opportunities. Do not enter private property without the owners permission.
• Due to the number of participants, especially in the commercial and residential categories, you may need to plan more than one outing if you wish to see them all. For this reason, it may be easier to vote for those in a particular category by following one of the mapped routes.
• There are a couple of ways you can follow along to view the displays:
  1. Many are finding this is the most convenient way navigate the light tour: Scroll down this page and click each participant in order, following the map included in that listing
  2. Visit our Maps page and follow the route provided for a particular category (so you can view all municipal entries together, or all residential entries together, etc.) TIP: To open and close the map's instruction/filter page, tap the three bars in the upper left corner of the map)

Our competition will remain open from December 4 through January 2 and winners will be announced the first week of January on Bangor Rotary Clubs Facebook page.

We hope you, your family, and your friends enjoy the hard work so many of our neighbors put into this event. We wish you a safe and happy holiday season. Enjoy the Festival of Lights!

Map showing all display locations together.

View preset routes and custom routing instuctions