# Event Details

- **Event Name**: Mendota Lights of Hope
- **Event Start and End Date**: Sat, 17 Oct, 2026 at 04:00 pm (-05:00)
- **Event Description**: ✨ Mendota Lights of Hope ✨

For many years, our community has understood the importance of coming together when cancer touches a family. Those moments of connection, remembrance, and hope remind us that no one should have to face cancer alone.

This October, we are bringing that spirit back to our community in a new way.

On Saturday, October 17, beginning at 4:00 p.m., we will gather at Lake Mendota for our first Mendota Lights of Hope event.

💜 A Light for Every Story

Lights of Hope is a meaningful tradition of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) that brings people together to honor loved ones who have battled cancer, remember those whose battles have ended, and celebrate those who have survived.

Each Light of Hope represents a person, a family, and a story.

Together, these lights give our community a way to remember those we have lost, celebrate those who have survived, stand beside those still fighting, and turn their stories into a reason to advocate for a better future for everyone facing cancer.

🏮 Purchase a Lights of Hope bag for $10* and personalize it in honor or memory of someone special. If you purchase your bag at the event, you can visit our bag decorating station and make your Light of Hope uniquely yours.

As the evening progresses, the Lights of Hope will illuminate Lake Mendota — creating a beautiful reminder that behind every light is a person, a family, and a story.

🎉 Make an Evening of It!

Come early and enjoy an evening with family, friends, and neighbors.

🎶 DJ & music
🌮 Food trucks with food available for purchase
🎨 Lights of Hope bag decorating station
🏮 Lights of Hope around Lake Mendota
💜 Community, remembrance, and hope

Our evening will also include a special gathering where we will take time to remember those we have lost, celebrate survivors, and recognize the families and caregivers who have walked alongside them. 

 Special Ceremony — 6:00 PM

At 6:00 p.m., we will come together for a special Lights of Hope ceremony to honor those who have battled cancer, remember those whose battles have ended, celebrate those who have survived, and stand beside those still fighting.

But this evening is about **more than remembering

It is also about turning those memories into action.

Through the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)**, volunteers across the country work to make cancer a national priority by advocating for policies that support **cancer research, prevention, early detection, access to care, and the needs of cancer patients and their families.

The national Lights of Hope tradition uses these displays to help remind lawmakers that fighting cancer must remain a priority. 

Our Mendota event gives us the opportunity to bring that message home — to remember the people cancer has touched, celebrate the progress we have made, and **advocate for a future where fewer families have to hear the words, “You have cancer.”

📣 Your Story Can Become Your Voice

Every Light of Hope represents someone who gives us a reason to keep fighting.

When we remember someone, we honor their story.
When we share their story, we inspire others.
And when we use our voices, we can create change.

You don't have to be an experienced advocate. You don't have to know everything about public policy.

You simply have to care and be willing to speak up.

This is an opportunity for our community to come together not only to remember those we've lost and celebrate those who have survived, but to **stand together and make cancer a priority.**

Event Details

Mendota Lights of Hope
📅 Saturday, October 17, 2026
⏰ Starting at 4:00 PM
🕕 Special Ceremony at 6:00 PM
📍 Lake Mendota — Mendota, Illinois

Everyone is welcome.

Whether you're honoring someone you love, remembering someone we've lost, supporting a survivor, standing beside someone currently fighting, caring for a family member, or simply wanting to make a difference — there is a place for you at Lights of Hope.

Come be part of an evening where **families can gather, stories can be shared, survivors can be celebrated, and loved ones can be remembered.

And most importantly, come help us turn those stories into hope, advocacy, and action.

Because every light has a story.
Every story matters.

💜 HONOR. REMEMBER. HOPE. ADVOCATE.
✨ TOGETHER, WE SHINE HOPE.

*Contributions or membership payment to the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc. are not tax deductible.*
- **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/mendota/mendota-lights-of-hope/200030704351621
- **Event Categories**: food-drinks
- **Interested Audience**: 
  - total_interested_count: 0

## Ticket Details


## Event venue details

- **city**: Mendota
- **state**: IL
- **country**: United States
- **location**: Mendota Lake Park
- **lat**: 41.5585289
- **long**: -89.12850268
- **full address**: Mendota Lake Park, Mendota, United States

## Event gallery

- **Alt text**: Mendota Lights of Hope
  - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events5/banners/860db9b13152189d6fd66d08a4ad7cd3b2e173f0055118ee50d586dc9f009545-rimg-w1200-h500-dc080808-gmir?v=1789542500

## FAQs

- **Q**: When and where is Mendota Lights of Hope being held?
  - **A:** Mendota Lights of Hope takes place on Sat, 17 Oct, 2026 at 04:00 pm to Sat, 17 Oct, 2026 at 04:00 pm at Mendota Lake Park, Mendota, United States.
- **Q**: Who is organizing Mendota Lights of Hope?
  - **A:** Mendota Lights of Hope is organized by Mendota Lights of Hope.

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