Nearly a year after it was announced that the classic Yuletide tradition would not receive funding by the city of Austin, the new Trail of Lights' website and Facebook page has now launched and declared a return.

BrightBlue-Combo Platter, an Austin-based marketing company, was given the rights by the Austin City Council to take over production earlier this month. Now, they have released the first look into their vision for the Trail of Lights with the new website.

The festival will run December 9-18th at Zilker Park. There are several new additions mentioned for the festival, which has always relied on its mainstay of traditional attractions featuring holiday-themed light displays and the central Zilker Tree. This year, event organizers not only want to add more lighting displays, but more live music, food and flash mobs to spread holiday cheer to visitors of the winter wonderland. The website also promises that the holiday fête will be greener and more eco-friendly than ever, with more details being released later.

Notably, the website also states that festival-goers ages 11 and up will have to pay a five dollar entry fee, which will be a first for the festival. The organizers are still open, however, to axing the entry fee if they are able to attract plenty of new sponsors for the festival, especially if they are local food trailers that can fill the new food court.

Even with the prospect of having to fork over a little bit of cash, Austinites—hopefully—will be excited to see the return of one of the city’s most loved traditions. Begun in 1965 as a gift to the city from Alden Mabel Davis and Parks and Recreation Director Beverly Sheffield, the Trail of Lights was originally known as Yule Fest and featured a candlelight path, a live Nativity scene and a Yule log bonfire.

Still, it was only a year ago that many residents accused community leaders of being a bunch of penny-pinching Scrooges for cutting the funding for the Trail of Lights due to budget constraints. The City Council and Mayor Lee Leffingwell decided that it was best that the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent to finance the displays would be better spent on year round park maintenance instead of on an event that lasted for only a week.

This past year, the Zilker Tree was kept standing along with its lighting ceremony, but many still felt the void left in Christmas mirth. Now that a private company has stepped in, citizens can only hope that the city’s holiday spirit burns brighter than ever. It’s a promising dream that can make even the small heart of a Grinch grow three sizes in one day.