Raw States
Autumn Lights Festival
Oakland, CA · Arts & Culture
- When
- October 15–17, 2026
- Where
- Gardens at Lake Merritt, 666 Bellevue Ave · Oakland · CA
- Cost
- Not confirmed
- Status
- Confirmed from the organizer's published schedule
Three nights of illuminated art installations and live music fill the Gardens at Lake Merritt, a fundraiser the all-volunteer Friends of the Gardens have run since 2004. Ticketed evening entry supports upkeep of the public garden.
The history within reach
- Autumn Lights Festivalsame spot
Three nights of illuminated art installations and live music fill the Gardens at Lake Merritt, a fundraiser the all-volunteer Friends of the Gardens have run since 2004.
The Grand Lake opened in March 1926 as a vaudeville and silent picture house designed by the Reid brothers, at a cost of about a million dollars.
A local service club built Fairyland on the shore of Lake Merritt in 1950 out of storybook sets rather than thrill rides, which made it one of the first themed parks in the country and the model for a wave of imitators.
A tidal slough dammed by the mayor and declared protected for the birds using it, the first official wildlife refuge in North America, forty-odd years before the federal system existed..
The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 damaged the Cathedral of Saint Francis de Sales beyond repair and the Diocese of Oakland spent most of two decades arguing about what should replace it.