Gulfport Harbor Lights Winter Festival will end Sunday night

GULFPORT -- And on the 10th day of Christmas, a new Gulfport holiday extravaganza is coming to a close.

The Harbor Lights Winter Festival will illuminate Jones Park once more from 5 to 9 p.m. Sunday. After that, the light show is coming down.

Gulfport spokesman Chris Vignes said the winter festival was a big success.

"We had more than 40,00 people attend the festival over the holiday season," he said. "This is one of the largest light displays of its kind in the South. We pulled in visitors from all over Mississippi and we had a good bit of out-of-state visitors, too."

The show, which had more than a million LED lights, was designed by Universal Concepts of Cummings, Ga. It had welcomed visitors nightly since the day after Thanksgiving.

The festival was a partnership between the city and Island View Casino.

Island View had agreed to sponsor the show at a cost of $2.5 million over five years.

"A production like this was a team effort between the Gulfport Leisure Services Department, volunteers and community partners," Vignes said. "The Leisure Services Department worked really hard on this. They were there from the beginning."

The show featured nautical-themed light displays such as Santa Claus in a boat, as well as costumed holiday characters and a Ferris wheel. Vignes said the most popular attraction was a large display of LED Christmas trees whose lights were synchronized to songs of the season.

"(Coast Transit Authority) was also a part of the festival by providing a trolley service around the park on a nightly basis," he said. "This made the attractions very accessible for families and those with disabilities."

Vignes said the plan is for the show to return.

"This was the first year we've done this," he said. "Downtown Gulfport used to be known for its Christmas festivities and we are trying to bring that atmosphere back.

"We hope this was the beginning of a new Christmas tradition on the Coast."

Rainy weather on several December nights closed the attraction to visitors. According to the National Weather Service in New Orleans, rain should not be a problem Sunday night -- but temperatures, expected to dip into the 30s, will make the final Winter Festival night seem quite wintry.

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Gulfport Harbor Lights Winter Festival will end Sunday night ."