Nine Nights, Four With Anchors
The Portland Winter Light Festival runs February 5 to 13, 2027: nine nights, free to walk, produced by the nonprofit Nightlab and spread across more than 100 locations. The 2027 theme is In Other Words, which the festival describes as communication in all its forms.
The hours page splits the programme in two. Anchor sites open Fridays and Saturdays only, 6 to 10 p.m. Pop-up sites run 6 to 10 p.m. nightly unless a site notes otherwise.
In 2027 the four anchor nights are Friday Feb. 5, Saturday Feb. 6, Friday Feb. 12 and Saturday Feb. 13. The date pairs printed on that page, February 6–7 and 13–14, belong to the 2026 cycle, when Feb. 6 and Feb. 13 fell on a Friday. Read the rule, set it against the 2027 calendar, and the four nights land as above.
The Three Anchor Sites
Pioneer Courthouse Square at 701 SW 6th Avenue, the World Trade Center at 131 SW Salmon Street and the Electric Blocks at 236 SE Clay are the anchor sites, and most performances happen at them. Further sites include Glow Bar, Director Park, Big Pink and Ankeny Alley.
The spread decides the room. Square to World Trade Center measures 0.30 miles in a straight line, World Trade Center to Electric Blocks 0.64 miles, Square to Electric Blocks 0.94 miles. A downtown address reaches all three on foot inside an evening. An Eastside address trades the Square for the Electric Blocks.
Twenty Partner Hotels and Their Addresses
The Plan Your Visit page thanks 20 hotel partners by name and street address: The Nines at 525 SW Morrison St, The Duniway at 545 SW Taylor St, AC Portland at 888 SW Third Avenue, Inn at Northrup Station at 2025 NW Northrup St, Courtyard Portland City Center at 550 SW Oak Street, Moxy at 585 SW 10th Ave, Dossier at 750 SW Alder Street, DoubleTree Lloyd Center at 1000 Multnomah St, Sentinel at 614 SW 11th Ave, Hi-Lo Hotel at 320 SW Harvey Milk St, The Royal Sonesta at 506 SW Washington St, Hoxton at 15 NW 4th Ave, Hotel Rose at 50 SW Morrison St, Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront at 1401 SW Naito Parkway, Jupiter Hotel at 900 E Burnside St, The Heathman Hotel at 1001 SW Broadway, Hotel Vance, Hotel Zags at 515 SW Clay St, Hotel Lucia at 400 SW Broadway and Hotel Vintage at 422 SW Broadway. Hotel Vance is the single entry with no street address printed.
The thank-you text beside that list names 2026, so the roster is last year's. It remains the usable map: it shows which properties have taken part and where the festival has placed artists. Check the 2027 roster before booking on it.
Partner hotels host artists and installations, which puts art in lobbies and windows on the walk. Ask a property whether it is hosting a piece in 2027 when you book.
Matching a Room to an Anchor
Measured between the published addresses, straight-line.
Pioneer Courthouse Square: The Nines 0.07 miles, Dossier 0.08, The Duniway 0.09, The Royal Sonesta 0.12, Hotel Vintage 0.14, The Heathman 0.15, Hotel Lucia 0.16, Moxy 0.18, Sentinel 0.19.
World Trade Center: AC Portland 0.09 miles, Hotel Rose 0.13, The Duniway 0.22, Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront 0.23, The Nines 0.27, The Royal Sonesta 0.29, Hi-Lo Hotel 0.29.
Electric Blocks: Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront 0.61 miles, Hotel Rose 0.63, AC Portland 0.71, Hi-Lo Hotel 0.82, Hotel Zags 0.85, Jupiter Hotel 0.86, Hoxton 0.99.
Three partners sit more than a mile from the Square: Inn at Northrup Station at 1.10 miles, Jupiter Hotel at 1.15 and DoubleTree Lloyd Center at 1.42. Each of those three is a transit or car night.
Which Nights to Hold
Two nights carry the anchor programme, the Friday and the Saturday of each weekend. Hold Feb. 5 and 6 to open the festival, or Feb. 12 and 13 to close it.
A three-night hold from Thursday Feb. 11 to Sunday Feb. 14 covers the closing pair plus the Thursday pop-ups, and it puts checkout after the last anchor night.
Monday Feb. 8 to Thursday Feb. 11 run the pop-up layer only. The anchor sites are dark on those nights.
The festival's 2026 impact report records 262,000 attendees and 219 installations, with 17 percent of attendance arriving from outside the Portland metro region. The festival's hotel-partner page names the slow tourism season as the reason those rooms matter.
Glow Bar and the Late Nights
Glow Bar at Columbia Square, 111 SW Columbia Street, carries the food, the beverages, live performances and DJs. Its published calendar lists an exclusive preview, two nights running to midnight on each festival weekend, and two dance nights, Tabor Dance and Fusion Dance, each 6 to 10 p.m. Those entries are dated on the 2026 cycle. Tabor Dance falls on Thursday Feb. 11 in 2027 and Fusion Dance on Friday Feb. 12. Confirm both on the programme.
Getting Between Sites
Paid parking downtown is first-come, first-served. The festival asks visitors to take TriMet buses and MAX where they can, and cyclists get free bike parking at the anchor sites. The Plan Your Visit page makes Portland Streetcar free from 5 p.m. on the four dates it lists, February 6, 7, 13 and 14, and its FAQ gives the window as 5 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. In 2027 those dates fall on Friday Feb. 5, Saturday Feb. 6, Friday Feb. 12 and Saturday Feb. 13.
What Free Leaves Out
The festival charges nothing at the door. The costs left are the room, the parking and the dinner. The anchor programme fills four nights of a nine-night window. Pick the anchor, then the address nearest it, then the two nights that carry it.