The Portland Winter Light Festival Is Going to Make February Lit!

The Portland Winter Light Festival (PDXWLF) will return to celebrate its 10th year with the theme “A Light for Tomorrow: A Technicolor Future.” It will include more than 150 artist installations and will take place from Feb. 7-15 across the city. This free-to-attend festival includes its anchor locations of Pioneer Courthouse Square, the World Trade Center, and the Electric Blocks, but it doesn’t stop there.

Striving for increased geographic accessibility and a wider audience with a decentralized footprint, the festival will include communities all throughout the city. What was first inspired by a light festival in Lyon, France has since become a thriving celebration with live performances, interactive exhibits, and community pop-ups where all can witness the alliance of art and technology. 

The decentralized footprint throughout Portland is set up to engage those “who don’t have the means to get downtown, or so people who feel nervous about going downtown can go to the one in their neighborhood,” says Therese Gietler, the communications director for the PDXWLF. This means that each night is a “choose your own adventure” as you pick from the plethora of installations and pop-ups throughout the city.

Through this engagement of communities throughout the greater Portland area, the PDXWLF encourages small businesses to participate by lighting up their storefront windows, making this event a vital source of income for many local companies. The PDXWLF is projected to have a $10 million economic impact, highlighting the event’s influence beyond providing wonderful winter night events.

Run by the Willamette Light Brigade — a nonprofit based in Portland that lights the bridges and advocates for light at night — and presented by Portland General Electric, the festival is funded by sponsors, donations, and grants to keep it free for all.

As the festival expands and changes, it’s this funding that helps new ideas become a reality. One of these ideas is the Glow Bar, returning this year as a four-night event south of the World Trade Center that features live DJs, fun cocktails, incredible art, a special dumpling for The Oregonian’s Dumpling Week, and Proletariat Butchery’s “Butcher’s Burger” — voted Best Burger of 2024 by The Oregonian. While this pop-up is all ages from 6-8 p.m., it will be 21+ from 8 p.m. until midnight.

This year, guest artists from across the country and throughout the world will be featuring their pieces of art in our very own neighborhoods. One guest artist who will bring their work to the festival is Jason Peters, who has shared installations in Canada, Germany, Brazil, and the U.S. Another is LED sculptor Christopher Schardt, whose art has been featured at the Smithsonian Institution, the 2020 World’s Fair in Dubai, Burning Man, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Love Burn.

Even though big names in the art world create pieces for the festival, local artists will be presented alike. Matt Kelly — who will have his interactive collage installation “Kaleidophoria” in the Electric Blocks — will be returning for a third year as a guest artist, bringing an art piece in a constant state of evolution.

“Jumbo Kaleidoscope” was first featured in 2022, then was altered and returned in 2024, and will now be installed again with the name “Kaleidophoria.” Each time Kelly’s piece is presented, it has grown and become more engaging, interactive, and accessible. Kelly shares that he enjoys seeing how visitors engage with his piece and updates it as he sees fit based on those interactions.

The guest artist first attended the festival in 2020 and was blown away by its impact and turnout. He is so excited to return and be a part of the festival this year, yet preparing his piece is not without its challenges. This kind of outdoor art “poses some logistical considerations, like how do you invite people to be a part of your art but also not break it after an hour of use?” explains Kelly.

Nevertheless, his sheer determination and commitment to his art and the festival are clear. “In what can feel like a depressing political environment, we still need creativity, we still need people to bring joy to the world,” Kelly says. He invites everyone to “stay creative” and hopes more guest artists apply to have their art featured in the festival, stating that the PDXWLF “wants you to apply and be successful.”

Genevieve Hildebrand-Chupp first heard of the festival around 2015 and made their first art piece for it in 2018 — a light-up phoenix lantern to bring to the light parade. Then, in 2023, they made “FunGlow” — a pair of 4 and 6-foot mushrooms that lit up in rainbow patterns — with Logan Vicker and Ree Seminole for a hackathon hosted by CETI Makerspace. After the show, art directors from the PDXWLF asked if “FunGlow” could be presented at the festival, inspiring Hildebrand-Chupp to be a guest artist the following year. 

In 2024, Hildebrand-Chupp was a solo guest artist with “Sea Anemone” and will return this year with the piece “Synthetic Meadow,” an installation in collaboration with Rebecca Watkins that has been in process for the past five months. “Synthetic Meadow” is a blend of the real and simulated; “translucent layers create a living tapestry of nature and code, where motion weaves unseen threads between physical space and virtual image,” writes Hildebrand-Chupp. “Organic and synthetic elements create a surreal, dreamlike atmosphere that feels like distant, perhaps even artificial, memories — reflecting on our connection to nature in an increasingly digitized world.”

Striving to both illuminate the city and intertwine art and technology, the festival is a unique celebration brought together by the support of the Portland community. To get involved in supporting the PDXWLF, you can host an artist in an Airbnb or room rental, light your home or business, donate to fundraise for future festivals, or volunteer in one of the hundreds of slots for volunteers — all ability levels are welcome for those looking to volunteer. Part of the beauty of this yearly festival is “everyone coming together and getting super involved,” says Gietler. “It gets people out when businesses need it the most.”