With long nights and (seemingly) constant rain, Portland winters have earned their dark and gloomy reputation. No wonder we’ve taken to the Portland Winter Light Festival so quickly.

Now in its fifth year, the Portland Winter Light Festival is a free three-day event that brings light-based art exhibits — including video projection mapping, fire and ice sculptures and illuminated parades — to our dark February nights. This year’s edition will be help February 6-8 — Thursday through Saturday — from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Visually, it can be magical. It’s a kid-friendly activity that also appeals to all ages. It comes at a point in the winter when we all need an excuse to get outside and do something. There’s a great feeling of community around it.

So it’s no surprise that the festival has grown rapidly; 150,000 people attended in 2019.

The problem is that sixty percent of these attendees — about 90,000 people — arrived via car. The bulk of the exhibitions are in an area with limited road connections. That’s a recipe for big time traffic issues.