TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The 74th annual Winterhaven Festival of Lights kicks off on Saturday, December 9 and runs through Christmas Day. It is open from 6pm to 10pm each night.
The festival is free to attend, but monetary and food donations are accepted to benefit the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.
There are no drive-thru dates for this year’s festival. Attendees can walk, take a hayride, a bus trolley or a pedal-powered group bike around the Winterhaven neighborhood in Midtown.
While many visitors are excited to attend, many residents of the neighborhood are just as excited for everyone to see their displays.
“Every year we put up the tree and about 20,000 people come by and make a wish,” said Kathleen Bethel.
The Bethel family started the “Wishing Tree” 24 years ago. People write their wish on a piece of paper and staple it to a chain of other wishes which all hang off a large tree in their front yard.
“My older daughter actually started it when she was in seventh grade. She wanted to see what people wished for. She had heard that people were very commercial and they were materialistic and she didn’t believe that,” Bethel said. “So she studied the wishes that people made that year.”
It has now become a staple at the festival and sometimes the Bethel family gets to see wishes come true.
“We’ve had people that wish for babies that weren’t able to conceive. The next year they come back and they show us their children,” Bethel shared.
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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist. She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
