Thanksgiving Ferris wheel lighting at the Santa Monica Pier

Published on November 21, 2025

The Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel will be lit orange and yellow on Friday, November 21 to Thursday, November 27 in recognition of Thanksgiving.

Starting this weekend, nighttime visitors at the Santa Monica Pier can enjoy Pacific Park’s seasonal salute to Thanksgiving with festive patterns and turkey designs on the Pacific Wheel.

Thanksgiving is an annual holiday celebrated on the 4th Thursday in November in the United States. This harvest festival is a time for people to give thanks for the bounty of the season. Thanksgiving is celebrated in several other New World countries including Canada and Brazil.

This special lighting event will take place on the evening of Friday, November 21 to Thursday, November 27. 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 Thanksgiving

WHEN:
Friday, November 21 to Thursday, November 27
dusk (around 5 PM) to midnight

WHERE:
Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier

 

See the lights from home at www.pacpark.com/live.

Pacific Park regularly programs the Ferris wheel to display seasonal programing 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.

 

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Feature image courtesy of @chrizbreezzyy