Imagine – cold wind howls against your face, you’re feet feel numb, and festive holiday spirit sparkles all around as you walk through downtown Grayslake. The village prepared it’s citizens for the holiday season with their iconic Festival of Lights & Holiday Market on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, which included a parade and impressive display of lights.

During the parade, there were many tents that local businesses had set up to sell their goods to the hundreds of individuals who were there. A lot of the shops located downtown on Center Street were open too, and people could go inside to warm up and shop for presents to give to their loved ones this holiday season. With the weather below freezing, this helped a lot. The Ferris wheel was a popular attraction at the festival this year and had many people excited.

The Grayslake Heritage Center had a fundraiser where organizations brought in trees pre-decorated to donate to the organization’s cause. They would either decorate the trees for their cause or in accordance to this year’s theme, which is movies. They opened the exhibit on the same day as the Festival of Lights. When asked about their favorite part about the holiday season, Sally Kelly, who’s been working at the Heritage Center for a little over a year, said “getting together with the family.”

This night was a night to remember with the magnificent lights and the good food, but most importantly this night was meant to bring Grayslake families and friends together to celebrate the spirit of the season.