Last December the City of Coralville announced that, because of the low temperatures in the forecast, it would not light luminarias along 12th Avenue, Holiday Road or the streets around S.T. Morrison Park. Aisle of Lights went ahead anyway. The city's newsletter that week told residents they were "still welcome to light luminarias on their sidewalks." The headline over that announcement was "A tradition illuminated by you."
That headline describes how the event has always worked. The 46th annual Aisle of Lights is set for Sunday, December 13, 2026, from 5 to 9 p.m., and the city's own listing says it "is only possible with community participation." The city adds routes, a party at City Hall and a bus tour. The lit sidewalks you see across town come from households and businesses.
The Year the City Stood Down
The 2025 plan had the usual pieces. Residents could pick up free sacks and sand at the Aquatic Center parking lot and bring their own container for the sand. GreenState Credit Union sponsored part of the event, and Hawkeye Ready Mix donated the sand.
Then the forecast changed the city's part of the plan. The routes the city normally lights itself went dark that year. The activities planned for S.T. Morrison Park moved inside City Hall, and so did the llamas. The bus tour stayed on the schedule.
The tour kept running, and the city kept inviting residents to light their own sidewalks. CBS2 Iowa's coverage of the 2025 event still reported thousands of luminarias, a self-guided tour, the free bus ride from City Hall, and local businesses and organizations offering crafts, open houses, treats and llama visits.
One Sidewalk North of 10th Street
The tradition started on one person's sidewalk. The city dates Aisle of Lights to 1980. In a 2014 Iowa City Press-Citizen story, then-City Administrator Kelly Hayworth credited its founder, Margaret Morgan, who began making luminarias and setting them on the sidewalks near her home north of 10th Street.
"That's the way she celebrated with her husband and neighbors, and it just started to grow," Hayworth told the Press-Citizen. He also said Morgan and her husband would dress up as Santa and Mrs. Claus.
By 2014 the city was lighting its own routes, and much of that work came from volunteers. The same Press-Citizen story said coordinator Jim Albrecht, about 40 volunteers and members of Coralville's Boy Scout Troop 207 spent roughly three hours that Sunday placing and lighting 4,600 luminarias along Fifth Street and 12th Avenue. Albrecht told the paper how he got involved after meeting Morgan in 1999:
"I didn't really know who she was at the time. I saw her drive by one day around Christmastime and I ran out and stopped her. I asked if she was Margaret, she said yes, and I said 'I'd like to be your elf.'"
"It's a community effort, and everybody joined in," Albrecht said that year. Volunteers lit the routes, and residents lit their own blocks. That is still how the event works.
The Routes the City Usually Covers
When the weather allows, the city lights a set of routes that ties the tour together. A 2022 Press-Citizen weekend roundup listed them:
- Holiday Road, from First Avenue to Twelfth Avenue
- Twelfth Avenue, from Seventh Street to Holiday Road
- Seventh and Eighth Streets, from S.T. Morrison Park to Twelfth Avenue
- Fifth Street, from City Hall to the Library
- Biscuit Creek trail
- Coralville Veterans Memorial and Oak Hill Cemetery
Those are the 2022 routes. Most run along the main streets around City Hall and S.T. Morrison Park, and the Biscuit Creek trail stands out among them. If that trail is part of your regular walk, our guide to everyday life around Coralville's parks and trails covers it in daylight.
Residential blocks fill in the rest of the map. In an archived Gazette account, the bus tour made one important stop on Valley View Drive, at a place known as "the Santa house," where Santa and Mrs. Claus handed out candy canes. A Gazette photo caption shows luminarias on the 1400 block of Valley View Drive near Holiday Road. Most of the luminarias along the tour sit on private sidewalks like those. When the city's routes went dark in 2025, those sidewalks were what remained.
What December 13 Asks of a Household
For 2026 the city has published the date, the hours and the basic request so far. Pick up free sacks and sand, put a lit votive candle in each sack, and set them on your sidewalk from 5 to 9 p.m. Pickup locations and dates for this year will go on the city's Aisle of Lights page. Until then, the last few years give a good picture of the routine.
- Get the sand and sacks. In 2025, both were at the Aquatic Center parking lot, and residents brought their own container for the sand. In 2022, sand was at the west side of the Coralville Community Aquatic Center lot, and sacks were at City Hall or the Recreation Center.
- Buy candles. The city provides sacks and sand, not candles. The 2022 CBS2 Iowa guide told residents to buy their own votives.
- Space them out. The same guide suggested a luminaria about every third sidewalk square, with the top of each bag folded down.
- Plan for wind. It also suggested reusable battery candles for windy weather. Last year's cold forecast is a good reason to keep that option in mind.
- Clear the street. Residents were asked to park off the street during the event and to pick up their bags by 9 a.m. Monday.
A household that wants to take part will need some lead time, though not much. December 13 is still several weeks away, and the sand pickup is the only step tied to a location.
Where to Be Between 4:30 and 7
City Hall at 1512 7th Street is where the city runs its part of the night, and in 2025 it held everything once the cold moved the park activities indoors. The 2025 schedule ran like this:
- 4:30 to 7 p.m. Santa and his sleigh, with treats and hot cocoa from GreenState Credit Union while supplies lasted
- 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Llamas from Prairie Patch Farm for hugs and photos
- 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. A kids' craft, live music, and a luminaria to decorate with wishes for the new year
The bus tour also leaves from City Hall. In 2025, a free, wheelchair-accessible bus left at about 5:15 and 6 p.m. Seating was limited and first come, first served. The bus tour has been around for years. In 2014, city employee Vicky Robrock told the Press-Citizen that staff "scout out some of the areas where there are more lights on the houses," which means the route follows the blocks residents light up.
For 2026, the city's listing confirms events at S.T. Morrison Park and City Hall in the evening. It also says area businesses and organizations will host their own events in the afternoon and evening, with times that vary. Past years give a sense of what those look like. In 2022, the Press-Citizen roundup listed horse-and-carriage rides, Santa photos and cocoa at Iowa River Landing, a free soup supper at Coralville United Methodist Church, and an open house at The Big White House. In 2025, the city's newsletter described open houses, a soup supper, hot cocoa and live music hosted by community organizations around town. The 2026 host list will be posted on the city's Aisle of Lights page.
In 2014, University of Iowa Community Credit Union branch manager Sandra Thorington told the Press-Citizen, "It's great to see the kids who used to come here years ago come back as adults with kids of their own." That was the 34th Aisle of Lights. The 46th lights at 5 p.m. on Sunday, December 13.
Blank and McCune, The Real Estate Company has been part of the Iowa City metro since 1979, a year before Margaret Morgan lit her first luminarias north of 10th Street. If you have questions about your street in Coralville, or about a new one you're considering, find your agent and talk with someone who knows these blocks.
