5 best holiday light displays in Minnesota

To view the 2023 Minnesota Holiday Lights Guide, click here

Give Me The Mike’s Best of Minnesota Guides are presented by the
Desrochers Realty Group and eXp Realty

I asked the viewers of Twin Cities Live, along with my Facebook fans, for their favorite places to see holiday lights in Minnesota. Hundreds of votes came in. I presented the top 5 on Twin Cities Live as part of their Worth the Trip series.

Click here for the 2023 Minnesota Holiday Lights Guide, featuring 100+ shows

Sleepy Eye

Sleepy Eye Holiday Lights in Motion
Sportmans Park
West side of State Highway 4 (northwest side of Sleepy Eye and the north side of Sleepy Eye Lake)

Includes more than 300,000 lights

You can drive through the park to enjoy the lights. Tune your car’s radio to 89.1 FM to hear synchronized music. The music is also broadcast throughout the park if you want to get out of your car to see things up close.

Everything is free! That includes wagon rides, free concessions, and free horse drawn carriage rides on December 14th and 21st. Donations are accepted

Willmar

Celebrate the Light of the World
Robbins Island Regional Park
Highway 71 North
Willmar, MN 56201

Celebrate the Light of the World is a free, drive-through display featuring 800,000 lights

When you drive-through, turn your car radio to either 88.7FM or 90.3FM to hear music

Freewill donations will be collected for the Salvation Army of Willmar, Habitat for Humanity of West Central Minnesota, Kandiyohi County Food Shelf and The Link

Mankato

Kiwanis Holiday Lights
Sibley Park
901 Park Lane
Mankato, MN 56001

Features 1.8 million lights!

Upon entering Sibley Park, turn your car radio to 88.1FM to learn about Kiwanis Holiday Lights and listen to holiday music. Once you’re in the loop, flip over to 90.1FM

Admission is free for all vehicles. You can also walk through the display

In addition to all the lights, stop by for a skating rink, horse drawn wagon rides, live reindeer, and Santa Claus

Shakopee

Sever’s Holiday Lights
3121 50th Street West
Shakopee, MN 55379

Drive through a display with more than 2 million lights synchronized to holiday tunes

The route is a half mile

Plus, enjoy hot cocoa, mini donuts, caramel popcorn from Drew’s Concessions and more

Duluth

Bentleyville “Tour of Lights”
Bayfront Festival Park
700 Railroad Street
Duluth, MN 55802

With 5 million lights, Bentleyville is America’s largest free walk-through lighting display

It’s located at Bayfront Festival Park, a 20-acre park located on the shores of Lake Superior

Complimentary hot cocoa, cookies, popcorn and roasted marshmallows are provided

Get your photo taken with reindeer

Kids 10 and under who visit Santa receive a knit hat

Bentleyville is an official collection site for the Salvation Army. Bring a non-perishable food item or new, unwrapped toy when you visit. Donations are distributed to Salvation Army Corps in Duluth, Cloquet, Virginia, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, International Falls, and Superior, WI

Did you enjoy this roundup of the best holiday light displays in Minnesota? Check out my other Best of Minnesota guides

• 5 best places to play bingo in Minnesota
• The 5 best meat raffles in Minnesota
• The 5 best restaurants for fried fish in Minnesota
• Hidden gems at the 5 best museums in Minnesota
• 20 Mexican restaurants in Minnesota worth the trip
• The best ice cream shops in Minnesota
• The best restaurant, brewery and winery patios in Minnesota
• The 17 best restaurants for breakfast in Minnesota
• The 5 best coffee shops in Minnesota
• The best pizzerias in Minnesota
• 7 top spots for a margarita in the Twin Cities
• 17 favorite bookstores in the Twin Cities
• 19 favorite meat markets in Minnesota and western Wisconsin

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Originally published December 2019