Old Harrison County Courthouse during the Wonderland of Lights in Marshall, Texas
The Holiday Trail of Lights is a festival held in Northwest Louisiana and Northeast Texas during the Christmas season.
Six Ark-La-Tex cities participate in the Trail, three in Louisiana (Natchitoches (pronounced NAK-uh-tush), Shreveport and Bossier City) and three in East Texas (Marshall, Jefferson and Kilgore).
The Wonderland of Lights in Marshall is one of the largest Christmas celebrations in the US and attracts tourists both from the US and other countries. The Festival of Lights and Christmas Festival in Natchitoches was started in 1927, making it one of the oldest Light Festivals in the US. The largest city, Shreveport's festival, Holiday in Dixie, lights up a botanical garden, the American Rose Center. Candle light tours of historic homes are popular attractions in all of the cities, especially Jefferson. Kilgore suspends Christmas lights from oil derricks in the World's Richest Acre District.
All of the cities are within a one hour drive of each other and hold parades during the festival and offer what the official website calls "Southern hospitality".
In Natchitoches, Louisiana it is known as the Natchitoches Christmas Festival or Festival of lights.
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