Lights! Lights! Thanksgiving Night!

November 28th, 2024

Join us on Thanksgiving Night when people and families alike flood downtown to look up at the beautiful Canopy of Lights! Each year Santa Claus makes a special visit to Downtown Moultrie to see the children and kick off the Christmas season. When you explore, you will find live reindeer, pony rides, a train, and more.
Downtown shops begin to open at 4 pm, just two hours before the Canopy of Lights is turned on for the season. After you watch the lights come on, take a stroll around downtown to visit the many shops and restaurants that are open.
Downtown Moultrie’s Canopy of Lights dates back to the 1930s.

LIGHTS! LIGHTS! THANKSGIVING NIGHT! WAS NAMED GEORGIA’S “PREMIER SPECIAL EVENT” OF 2022 BY THE GEORGIA DOWNTOWN ASSOCIATION.

History

Have you ever wanted to know the history of the Canopy of Lights? It all started in 1933. We have C. A. Gill, Chairman of the Water and Light Committee, and City of Moultrie Mayor J. Frank Norman to thank. A 1933 Moultrie Observer article reported, “The business district has been greatly brightened at night by the long string of Christmas lights thrown around the courthouse square… This action was highly commended not only by the merchants but by the general public.” People must have been impressed because the number of lights went from 400 in 1933 to 1,700 in 1934. 1934 is the first time an immense canopy that can be seen for miles was mentioned. A 1933 writer described it best “Here is something with possibilities of growth and development. The decorations of this year can be stored and put up again next year at small cost. And then a little of the new and novel added year by year will eventually make it possible for the community to break out in a blaze of glory almost over night. Nothing will do more to bring the Christmas feeling. and nothing will be more impressive to those who come here to visit or to shop through the holidays.” If only the author could see just how breathtaking the downtown lights are now!