Established in 1927, Natchitoches Christmas Festival is one of the oldest community-based holidays in the country. It started as a one-day festival and has since evolved into a six-week long very popular Christmas Season. The Christmas Season starts on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and ends on January the 6th. Every night during that time, the city is decorated by more than 300,000 lights and 100 decorations. The Natchitoches Christmas Festival was a bright idea of Max Burgdorf, Superintendent of Utilities for the City of Natchitoches, Louisiana.

He decided that the city needed special event to celebrate the Christmas and bought enough Christmas tree bulbs to light the entire Front Street and to create a set piece on the riverbank. The first Christmas set piece was a piece of metal in a shape of “Star of the East”. Since then, new pieces were made every year and until 2002 were permanently placed along the riverbank.

780 Front St, Natchitoches, LA 71457

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