My Mission
I created this site to make it easier for everyone in the Austin area to discover the most magical Christmas light displays, holiday festivals, and festive experiences in our community. I believe local holiday events bring people together, and I want to build the most complete Austin Christmas lights guide out there.
My Background
This site is built on over 20 years of experience in event publishing. Before launching Austin Christmas Lights, I founded and published Big Weekend Calendars — wall calendars featuring local events that sold nationally through major retailers including Costco, HEB, Randalls, and other leading companies. Over two decades, we sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
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 Austin Christmas Lights remains a personal project — one I genuinely love working on each year.
How I Keep This Updated
Every season, I personally research each display, verify event dates and times, and visit as many locations as possible. When I can't visit in person, I reach out to organizers directly or rely on trusted sources within the Austin community.
This isn't just a directory pulled from other websites — it's a guide built from real experience and genuine love for Austin's holiday traditions.
About Me
Mike Michaels
Entrepreneur & Event Discovery Pioneer
I'm an entrepreneur and event discovery innovator based right here in Austin, Texas. I founded the Holiday Events Network after two decades of publishing local event calendars sold in major retailers like Costco, HEB, and Randalls.
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 the Austin Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman, KXAN (NBC), and more.
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.