Every year Portland International Raceway lights up with holiday cheer—for cars and bikes alike. by Corbin Smith In 1993, the Portland International Raceway—the city’s premier racing venue—installed a bunch of Christmas ligh t displays around its track and invited people to drive through, luxuriating in the glow of holiday joy. It’s possible I was in attendance that very same year: my father, a street racer in his youth, was certainly aware of PIR and my mother had always been a Christmas lights enthusiast, trucking us from neighborhood to brightly-lit neighborhood. I’m not certain, but I do have distinct childhood memories of slowly circling that track, watching the festive lights go by. Memory is not a vice grip, and everything slips away in the raging rapids of time.  corbin smith corbin smith corbin smith In any case, families throughout the metro area have been attending PIR’s Winter Wonderland for 33 years now, and—hey, if you’re looking to submerge yourself in the cozy arms of velvety Christmas cheer, it’s here again in 2025, and will probably continue next year and the next, forever and ever until the end of electricity as a commodity (or the heat death of the universe, whichever comes first). At Winter Wonderland, PIR is lined with no less than 250 light displays, containing more than a million bulbs. Some people occasionally claim it’s the largest light display west of the Mississippi River. I don’t know if this fact is confirmable, but it certainly rolls off the tongue and flatters the holiday spirit of the community, so I’m willing to go along with it.  corbin smith Around ten years ago, Sunshine Division, an 102-year-old Portland Police Bureau-linked food assistance charity, used a grant from the Murdock Trust to buy the show from an events consortium, and set off on the slow and tedious task of replacing every tungsten light in the display with longer lasting, more energy efficient LED bulbs. Winter Wonderland is now Sunshine Division’s largest fundraiser of the year by a considerable distance.  Many of the displays are from the very first show, 33 years ago. Some are newer. Many are designed by professionals who do contract work. Some are designed and built locally with the help of Hood to Coast (H2C), the famous local relay race. H2C is a vital partner in the event, assisting Sunshine Division with storage and upkeep in the offseason. corbin smith Winter Wonderland is usually experienced by drivers shutting off their headlights, and leisurely rolling around the track at a slow, steady pace. But on a single evening every year, cyclists who are unafraid to brave the cold are allowed to ride the nearly two mile-long course at their own pace, stopping for pictures, and feasting on cider and donuts after their ride. Sabrina Freeland, a local cyclist who claims she likes riding in any temperature, has made the Winter Wonderland ride a yearly tradition.  “Usually we drag our kids with us, but most of them are off at college now. I’ve done this in the car and frankly, it just goes too fast. You have to go at the same speed as the person in front of you. I love doing it on bikes, because you can go around as many times as you want and see all the kids with their lit-up bikes and exciting helmets.” corbin smith One such child was seemingly tripping balls on holiday cheer, freezing temperatures, and adrenaline, while riding quickly through one of the large Christmas light tunnels, and yelling “I’M GOING THROUGH A PORTAL!” CORBIN SMITH “A portal to where,” this reporter was left to wonder. To the magic of the holidays? To a future where Winter Wonderland still stands, year after year? If only we jaded adults had access to this child’s pure and wonderful spirit, then we might know. Winter Wonderland is open nightly through December 31, Mon-Thurs 5 pm-10 pm, Fri-Sun 4:30 pm-11 pm, $50-$165 (depending on size of vehicle). CORBIN SMITH corbin smith corbin smith ...read more read less