The Portland Winter Light Festival is back and brighter than ever, with downtown Portland transforming into a veritable canvas of light and creativity that kicked off last Friday. The ninth annual event has filled Pioneer Courthouse Square and beyond with eye-catching art installations, attracting visitors from all over the city.

With a whopping roster of over 170 art installations scattered around the city, from a 14-foot sculpture at Salmon Springs Fountain to an impressively lit-up tesseract cube at the World Trade Center, this winter light festival is not just about the spectacle. Event organizers are expecting a whopping crowd of about 200,000 people to delve into this immersive experience. But it's not just downtown getting the glow-up; installations are popping up at traffic intersections, front yards, and even a goat farm, making for some unexpected twinkles across town, according to Oregon Live.

Therese Gietler, communications director for the festival said, "People are smiling, happy and so thrilled to be here in Portland. We are recovering and we are coming back." It's not just about the art; the festival, with its theme "What Glows Under Pressure," is a symbol of the city's resilience and a beacon for economic rejuvenation, as per KOIN.

In support of the festival, the Morrison Bridge played the unlikely hero by shelving its weekend maintenance schedule, allowing visitors free passage to partake in the festival's offerings. The bridge reopened to traffic at 6:00 p.m., after closing at 3:00 a.m. for maintenance, and will continue this pattern next weekend as well, as reported by KATU.