My Mission
I created this site to make it easier for everyone in the Portland, Oregon area to discover the most magical Christmas light displays, holiday festivals, and festive experiences in the community. I believe local holiday events bring people together, and I want to build the most complete Portland Christmas lights guide out there.
My Background
This site is built on over 20 years of experience in event publishing. Before launching Portland Christmas Lights, I founded and published Big Weekend Calendars — wall calendars featuring local events that sold nationally through major retailers including Costco and other leading companies. Over two decades, we sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
For many years, I created and published a Portland Events wall calendar, which gave me deep knowledge of Portland's event scene and holiday traditions. That extensive experience in curating and publishing local events at scale taught me how to find the best happenings, verify details, and present them in a way that's actually useful to people planning their outings.
Today, I also operate the Holiday Events Network, covering 7,000+ cities worldwide with over 1 million annual visitors discovering Christmas and holiday events in their communities. But Portland Christmas Lights remains a personal project — one I genuinely love working on each year.
How I Keep This Updated
Every season, I conduct extensive research on each display, verify event dates and times through multiple sources, and use an extensive vetting system to ensure accuracy. I don't personally visit every location or reach out to organizers directly, but I do thorough research and evaluation using official websites, social media, news sources, and community resources.
This isn't just a directory pulled from other websites — it's a carefully curated guide built from years of research experience and genuine appreciation for Portland's holiday traditions, from the historic charm of Peacock Lane to the grandeur of Winter Wonderland.
About Me
Mike Michaels
Entrepreneur & Event Discovery Pioneer
I'm an entrepreneur and event discovery innovator. I founded the Holiday Events Network after two decades of publishing local event calendars sold in major retailers like Costco and other leading companies, including many years creating Portland Events wall calendars.
My work on large-scale holiday event discovery has been covered by major media outlets including BBC, Redfin, TheTravel.com, and Wanderlog.
Beyond holiday projects, I've also created interactive experiences and published event calendars in national retailers. My creative work has been featured in various publications and media outlets.
Connect on LinkedInLet's Connect
If you have questions, corrections, or know of a display I should add to the guide, I'd love to hear from you! Head over to my Contact page to get in touch.