Koziar’s Christmas Village
For the Koziar family, Christmas lights are a family tradition that started in 1948 on their Bernville farm simply because their parents loved the holiday. The village is now in its 72nd year, celebrating with multi-generational visitors. This year’s display includes a museum made as a tribute to the parents who started it. With a million-plus lights, there’s something to bring joy to every visitor. The village turned on the lights on Saturday, Nov. 2. Now visitors can wander through every night, including holidays. Weeknights are the best time to visit, as Saturdays from Thanksgiving until Christmas are the busiest.
782 Christmas Village Rd. Bernville
Hours: Mon-Fri: 6 to 9pm, Sat: 5 to 9:30pm, Sun: 5 to 9pm
Cost range: $12 (ages 11 to 64); $10 (ages 4 to 10); and $11 (ages 65+). Children 3 and under are free. Parking is free.
Holiday Lights at Gring’s Mill
What started at Gring’s Mill in 1988 with just 15,000 holiday lights open to the public for just a few nights has grown to span a whole month of dazzling holiday wonder. With several hundred thousand lights wrapped and strewn all around the grounds of the park, the staff opens the program for the 32nd year on Dec. 5 with live entertainment. The walk-through light display will run through Dec. 29. Concerts and children’s programs will be held throughout the month. Any night is a good night to visit especially when the reindeer come to the park or during the ice sculpture demonstrations. The park is closed and dark on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
2083 Tulpehocken Rd., Wyomissing
Hours: Th-Sun: 6 to 9pm
Cost: $5 per car
Christmas on Lincoln
Christmas On Lincoln is an animated Christmas light display featuring more than 60,000 Christmas lights dancing to music that can be heard on a car radio. The light display was started in 2006 by Tim Macrina and his wife, Katie, when they lived on Sunset Boulevard in West Reading. In 2013, the Macrina family, who had since moved to Lincoln Court, was the champion of the television show Great Christmas Light Fight. The display evolves each year with more LED lights and features, including this year’s addition of a new Santa and reindeer sleigh. They open for the season on Nov. 29 and will continue until New Year’s Eve.
2031 Lincoln Court, Wyomissing
Hours: Daily 5 to 9 pm, weather permitting
Cost: Free
Reading’s Christmas on the Mountain
On Nov. 22, Christmas on the Mountain opened for its 29th season. For years, the Hillside Playground Association transformed Hillside Playground, located on N. 14th Street in Reading, into a Christmas wonderland, affectionately known as “Christmas on the Mountain.” This free holiday light display — which includes Santa’s Workshop, and boasts over a half-million lights, inflatables and decorations — has become a holiday tradition for many county residents. A group of volunteers and the Reading High School Marine Corps JROTC rescued the holiday event several years ago, making sure the beloved tradition would continue for years to come. Bonus: all children can meet Santa at no cost.
459 N. 14th St., Reading
readingschristmasonthemountain.com
Hours: Sun-Th: 5 to 9 pm, Fri & Sat: 5 to 10pm
Cost: Free
’Twas the Lights Before Christmas
’Twas the Lights Before Christmas is a free, family-friendly light show that anyone and everyone can enjoy for the Christmas season at Calvary Bible Fellowship Church in Sinking Spring. Inspired by “dueling Christmas lights” on YouTube, the first show debuted in 2013 with 30,000 lights synchronized to a musical soundtrack that told a Christmas story. Now, the free, volunteer-run show includes 100,000 lights — that's over five miles of lights! It runs daily from Dec. 1 to 22; light shows run every 15 minutes from 5-10pm. The best days to go are Friday, Saturday or Sunday from 6 to 9pm when volunteers in the “Hospitality Barn” serve cookies and hot chocolate and host an activity for the kids.
4891 Penn Avenue, Sinking Spring
Hours: Daily 6 to 9pm
Cost: Free
