If you've ever put up enough lights to make the neighbors squint, Bloomington Parks and Recreation would like to hear from you. The Winter Lights Tour is back for its fifth year. Residents sign up their decorated homes, and the city turns the list into a map that anyone can use to go looking at the displays.
There are 2 ways to take part. Decorators get their lights and inflatables up and register their homes by Nov. 20. Everyone else waits for the map, plans a route and heads out for a self-guided tour, which the city says runs for the rest of the season.
Registration happens through an online entry form on the city's tour page, and you need a Bloomington street address. The deadline is 11:59 p.m. Nov. 20. The city doesn't list a fee to enter or to take the tour. Only the addresses of registered homes go on the public map. The city says names, phone numbers and emails stay private and are used only if staff need to reach you with a question.
The city's 2 notices don't agree on when the map comes out. The announcement says it starts Nov. 30, and the tour page says the interactive 2026 map will be posted in early December. Either way, the tour runs through December, so you'll have most of the month to load the car with hot cocoa and see the displays.
Questions go to Parks and Recreation at 952-563-8877 or [email protected].
