The 2024 Festival of Lights will take place from December 5, 2024 to January 1, 2025 at the Washington DC Temple (9900 Stoneybrook Dr in Kensington, MD). At the Festival of Lights, over 500,000 Christmas lights illuminate the temple grounds to ring in the season and celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. The lights will turn on each night at 4:45 PM and go off at 9:00 PM each evening.
Ranging from vocal performances to brass and string orchestras, the lineup for the 2024 Festival of Lights is sure to be spectacular. Each performance will be held in the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center. Click here for a downloadable list of the 2024 performances. Entrance and parking are free. Tickets will NOT be issued or be required this year and doors will open 45 minutes prior to performances.
Parking is FREE and is available at the temple, Visitors’ Center, and nearby stake center (large church meeting house). Please see the parking options on the map below. Please refer to those who will direct your vehicle to help you find a good parking place. All buses must park in the north parking lot of the stake center. Clean restrooms and water fountains are available in the Visitors’ Center. Additional information available here.
Per the Washington DC Temple: “The Festival of Lights has been a Christmas tradition of the Washington DC Temple for over 40 years. Last year, Elder Quentin L. Cook and Singapore Ambassador Ashok Mirpuri ceremoniously lit the grounds together, beginning the Festival of Lights at the temple. On November 28, 2023, for the 46th Annual Festival of Lights, three representatives of different organizations illuminated the temple grounds together. Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Mr. Jaime Ramon T. Ascalon, Jr., the Philippines Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission, and Mrs. Maria Lourdes M. Romualdez, wife of Jose Manuel G. Romauldez, Philippine ambassador to the United States, joined together and ceremoniously pushed a button, lighting the temple grounds from inside the visitors’ center. At the lighting ceremony, they were also joined by David Marriott, and his parents, J.W. and Donna Marriott.”