Sunderland Illuminations details and Festival of Light 2023 tickets: Bookings open for event in Mowbray Park

Tickets go on sale today for the Festival of Light 2023, which will see a stunning light projection and sparkling lighting installations brighten the dark nights of Sunderland city centre this autumn.

The ever-popular event, which runs alongside Sunderland Illuminations, is relocating to Mowbray Park for 2023 to allow for restoration work at its usual home of Roker Park, which is seeing redevelopment work of its historic bandstand.

City leaders, however, hope the Mowbray Park location will also provide an economic boost to the city centre.

The much-loved Sunderland Illuminations will, however, remain at the seafront, lighting up the night sky along Roker and Seaburn.

Dates and tickets link

The Festival of Light runs from Wednesday, October 11, to Saturday, November 11, and tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday, September 22.

The free Sunderland Illuminations will run for the same dates, with no need to book.

What to expect from the 2023 Festival of Light

Plans for the Mowbray Park event include a stunning light projection onto the rear of Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens by a company whose previous work includes projections onto York Minster, Edinburgh Castle and St. Paul's Cathedral.Visitors can also look forward to:

• 'Selfie Lane' with a series of instagrammable selfie opportunities

• A sparkling light tunnel over the bridge linking the two sections of the park.
• A fairy trail leading visitors through an atmospheric woodland glade to an illuminated fairy door transformed into a mesmerising and magical symphony of light and sound, to create a colour changing immersive experience.

This includes a fairy field full of swaying fibre-optic tufts, changing colour in waves in perfect synchronisation with the music, which visitors can touch and feel based on a design/concept which saw its debut in Australia earlier this year.

There will also be live music from the bandstand.Councillor John Price, cabinet member for Vibrant City, at Sunderland City Council, said: "We're really excited about this year's Festival of Light which builds on the success of this much loved annual event and takes it to another level.

"As well as some amazing new light installations, this year’s festival will also have a very different feel with people able to get up close to the lights and have their photos taken with them, instead of everything being behind a fence.  

"We'll also be looking at how we can overlay it with more seasonal additions for Halloween and Diwali. And we're working with Sunderland Business Improvement District and other city partners to help make this a very special event for the whole community.

The festival will take place from 4pm - 9pm every Thursday to Sunday between Wednesday, October 11 and Saturday, November 11, and every day during half term week, October 23 - 27.

A ‘quiet hour’ between 4pm-5pm is available to book on selected dates for visitors looking for a quieter or calmer experience.

During this time, music in the park will be turned down and performances and street theatre will be limited.

The quiet hours are on from 4pm to 5pm on:

• Thursday, October 12 
• Thursday, October 19
• Monday, October 23 to Sunday, October 29
• Thursday, November 2 to Sunday, November 5
• Thursday, November 9 to Saturday, November 11

To buy tickets for this year's Festival of Light, find out more and see our FAQs on the event visit: www.mysunderland.co.uk/folFor information on parking: www.sunderland.gov.uk/car-parks