Memorial Day Wheel Lighting at the Santa Monica Pier 2022

The Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel will be lit red, white, and blue on Friday, May 27 to Monday, May 30 in recognition of Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is celebrated on the last Monday each May in the United States as an opportunity to recognize military personnel who died in service. The national holiday is celebrated widely as an extended weekend and an opportunity for family and friends to get together. Memorial Day is considered by some as the start of summer while Labor Day, the first Monday of September, marks the unofficial start of Fall.

Pacific Park celebrates Memorial Day each year with a special light program on the Pacific Wheel with brilliant patterns in red, white, and blue. The nightly program features an animated, waving American flag.

This special lighting event will take place on the evening of Friday, May 27 to Monday, May 30. The Ferris wheel lights can be seen from dusk until 11:35 PM each evening. Enjoy watching the light program online at www.pacpark.com/live.

WHAT:
Special Lighting of the Pacific Wheel for Memorial Day

WHEN:
Friday, May 27 to Monday, May 30
dusk (around 7:30 PM) to midnight

WHERE:
Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier

Pacific Park regularly programs the Ferris wheel to display seasonal programming and themed light designs for holidays and special occasions. The Pacific Wheel’s state-of-the-art lighting package was installed in 2016 and can display over 1.6 million different colors and animate patterns and icons in 24 frames per second. The energy-efficient LEDs on the face of the Ferris wheel are powered by solar arrays inside Pacific Park. The light programs are curated and designed by Pacific Park staff. Each design is manually animated; some designs can take hours of programming. The aim is to provide fun, high-energy, and sometimes whimsical designs to entertain guests on the Santa Monica Pier and surrounding beaches.

Feature image courtesy of @mariazlenz