Austin's Trail of Lights to return in December

The tradition first started in 1965 under the name Yule Fest. In 1992, the name changed to Trail of Lights, but budget constraints two years ago caused the city to discontinue the event.

"This is a nice-to-have item, but when you start to prioritize things, there are so many other things that have greater priority, such as public safety and maintaining our roads and parks," Leffingwell said. "But we also realized it's a tradition that needed to be preserved in some way. It's taken a little bit of time. We missed two years, but now we're on track to bring it back, bigger and better than ever."

The cost of the event is estimated to be between $1 million to $1.2 million and is being funded through corporate sponsors. The event is sponsored by H-E-B, among others, and organized by the City of Austin, Forefront Austin and the RunTex Carrozza Foundation, a foundation focused on promoting childrens' fitness.

"It's very important to us that we get into this and there's an element of sustainability," Watson said. "Entering this year is the first of what we hope to be a long, long, long continued history of this great event."

For more information, visit www.austintrailoflights.org.