Last night my family and I went to the Starlight Lane light show in Seattle so we could drive through a parking lot decorated with lights. Tickets were priced around $40 and with Ticketmaster fees and taxes, I think the final cost was about $50. Going into the event I saw some horrific reviews on Instagram and I was worried about what I had gotten us into. I booked these tickets because we wanted to do a safe, festive holiday event and we now have a puppy so this was something that Scout could participate in too. We don’t have a lot of free evenings together as a family, so I was worried that this would be a major disappointment.
I think people forget sometimes that we are living in a pandemic.
Or maybe some of us are living in a pandemic and some of us are living like life is still normal and that is why we are still in a pandemic too.
For us, living with a healthcare worker in the house, the pandemic has been in the forefront of our life since March. If we leave the house for any activity event, the bar for being “worth it” revolves around safety for everyone involved first and foremost.
So when we arrived at Lumen Field where we have parked numerous times for soccer games and other events, we were greeted by people with masks on who scanned our tickets (touchless) and we were told to keep our windows up and to enjoy the event.
We did.
And unlike every other place we’ve been to so far this year where we’ve had to deal with at least one or more people not wearing masks, we didn’t come in contact with ANYONE not masked. We were in the safety of our own car the whole time. And we turned our radio to the festive music on 90.5 FM and drove on with the music at the perfect level of sound for our liking.
In fact, it felt like Starlight Lane was run so efficiently that even though there were 4 or 5 cars going into the garage before us, we barely waited. Cars moved at about 5 mph or less through the light show and we only stopped once for a car who stopped, backed up and turned because they decided last minute they wanted to see part of the show again and they were immediately helped by a staff member.
This was not Disneyland and we didn’t expect it to be. There were lasers. There were lights. And Santa was even part of the show waving and wearing a mask too.
All we were hoping for was a little bit of joy in a safe way and we left feeling really happy.
I can’t imagine how the people who created this Starlight Lane event managed to put together something like this, in this kind of space, in this kind of era with all the safety measures and protocols that now need to happen. I can’t imagine having to procure things in a timely manner where even toilet paper can suddenly go out of stock on shelves. Knowing that our ticket price likely helped to employ people in this devastating time, only made the event feel better.
Starlight Lane didn’t even hold up a line to make it look like we were coming to something more exciting than it was. They didn’t even stop us anywhere to sell us pictures or trinkets or food to munch in the car to add to the cost. We opened our windows once (with masks on) to hand off toys to help with Toys for Tots and they gave us a candy surprise.
Once we were in the parking garage, I think we could have gone through the light show as many times as we wanted.
We extended our evening by driving through Pioneer Square where the sparkly lights there felt really festive and magical too, especially for this year. I also noticed some light shows inside some of the empty storefronts and this is part of a free Pioneer Square art event called Lusio Lights that I hope we have time to check out another day. We ended with a drive through Pike Place Market. And if we hadn’t eaten so many sweets during the day yesterday, we might have brought hot chocolate or picked some up along the way.
So ultimately if you are expecting something with pre-pandemic pizazz, photo ops and instagrammable hype, then this might disappoint. But if you are looking for safe, festive fun in Seattle with your family that might give back to others and that might give you a bit of joy, then maybe this event is something you’ll appreciate too.
I even wore my pajamas.
(PS if you have ever paid or even looked for event parking in pre-pandemic Seattle it will likely have cost you more in time and money than the price of Starlight Lane.)
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)