ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The Nights of Lights is a money maker for the tourism industry in St. Augustine. However, this year’s robust crowds had city lawmakers asking if the city can sustain the hordes that come for the holiday lights.

Earlier in January, St. Augustine City Commissioners described this year’s Nights of Lights with strong words. 

“The traffic was so bad. People were so frustrated,” Commissioner Barbara Blonder said. “It was just chaos.”

Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline noted, “It was intense. It was intense.” Later, she said, “We are dangerously close to overtourism.”

“We’ve got to come up with something to help,” Commissioner Jim Springfield said. 

There are no hard numbers when it comes to how many people visited downtown St. Augustine this year for the Nights of Lights. 

But seemingly more than in previous years, this Nights of Lights from late November to New Years brought more gridlock to the city’s roads and more shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.

City Commissioner Jon DePreter noted, “There’s physical capacity to the town.”

Everybody agrees with Springfield, who said, “It’s a really good thing for the businesses, a really good thing for the employees.”

The financial boost pulled the City Gate Spirits company and many other businesses out of a tourism slump from earlier in the year.

Devin Tekely at City Gate Spirits told First Coast News in December, “It’s a huge benefit for our local economy. I know just for us here at City Spirits my staff is local. This is how we make our money, this is how we make our living.”

The St. Augustine Lighthouse saw record attendance in December. The sales director told First Coast News, “We were caught off guard with the amount of people that came through during the holidays.”

Blonder said, “I’m definitely supportive of businesses, but not at the cost of our taxpayers who are footing the bill. And not at the cost of our quality of life. So if we don’t get help, significant help for the cost of supporting the infrastructure, I don’t think we can sustain it.”

Mayor Sikes-Kline pointed to extra money slated for marketing Nights of Lights to out-of-towners. The Visitor and Information confirms it received $216,000 extra this year for promoting Nights of Lights from the St. Johns County Tourism Development Council (TDC). That money came from hotel room taxes. 

The county’s TDC also provided the city with more money this year to run satellite parking shuttles and the Visitor Information Center with its coveted restrooms.

However, it was still crowded in town. 

“I cannot support keeping Nights of Lights going for as long as we do if we don’t get some significant help in the very near future,” Blonder said. 

The city and the county’s visitor bureau plan to meet to discuss ways of managing the crowds and the marketing money to make Nights of Lights work for everyone.

Sikes-Kline said, “We still want to be able to live in this real city. It is not Disney World. Everybody says it’s Disney. It’s not Disney World. People really live here.”

A full presentation with a review of the Nights of Lights will be given at the February 10 St. Augustine City Commission meeting.