"A million guests is a number we never imagined when we first lit Sensorio," general manager Ryan Hopple said this month, in an announcement reported by Paso Robles Daily News. Sensorio expects to welcome that millionth guest this fall, seven years after Bruce Munro's Field of Light first lit the hillsides east of town.
According to the same report, a Sensorio installation in Downtown City Park is scheduled to debut in November. The timing makes it look like holiday décor, and it will share the park with the tree, the carols and Mrs. Claus. The city approved it on different terms, though. These sculptures are meant to light up every night, in every season, for at least three years.
What the city approved for the banjo planter
The Paso Robles City Council approved the installation unanimously at its January 14, 2026 meeting. The piece is a donated "Gift of Light" made by Sensorio with the artist collective HYBYCOZO, and it goes in the "banjo" planter on the park's north side. The Tribune placed that planter between the Carnegie Library and the corner of the park at 12th Street.
The council staff report spells out what the city agreed to:
- Form: three steel sculptures centered in the planter, set on concrete footings buried in the planter bed.
- Light: static warm white or a single color, drawing 180 watts for 12 hours every night.
- Cost to the city: about $365 a year in electricity. Sensorio pays for commissioning, fabrication, installation and maintenance.
- Signage: up to two interpretive plaques, each 18 by 24 inches, with near-field communication that links a phone to Sensorio content.
- Term: three years, with a possible two-year extension after a city review.
The $365 electricity estimate works out to about a dollar a night, and it covers a light that comes on every evening of the year. Twelve hours a night, every night, means the north end of City Park will be lit on an ordinary Tuesday in February just as it is on the night of the holiday parade.
Who HYBYCOZO are, and where you have already seen their work
Many people in Paso Robles have already stood inside a HYBYCOZO piece without knowing the name. HYBYCOZO is the joint practice of artists Serge Beaulieu and Yelena Filipchuk. On the collective's own site, they describe large-scale sculptures and immersive installations built around geometry, pattern, light, material and perception. The same site lists exhibitions at Burning Man from 2014 through 2022, along with a permanent work in Paso Robles: DIMENSIONS at Sensorio. Sensorio describes DIMENSIONS as a large-scale metal-sculpture audiovisual experience that opened in May 2024.
The Smithsonian American Art Museum traces the pair's first joint installation to 2014: three steel polyhedral sculptures that threw patterned light and shadow at night. The museum also notes their use of mathematics, advanced fabrication and interior lighting. Three steel forms lit from inside is also how the City Park commission is described, so the downtown piece goes back to the shape the collective started with. Sculpture titles and dimensions for the park installation have not been published.
Why the November debut lands in the busiest month the park has
The installation is scheduled to arrive in the same weeks that City Park holds its biggest gatherings of the year. The Downtown Paso Robles Main Street Association's free Downtown Lighting Ceremony is on Friday, November 27, and this year the organizer flags a new start time: 5 p.m. in City Park. The program lists candlelight caroling, coffee and cocoa, greetings from city officials, Mrs. Claus and the Elves, and Mr. Ginch.
As of mid-October, no unveiling date or ceremony for the sculptures had been announced. Back in January, The Tribune reported an April-or-May production window followed by an estimated two to three weeks of installation. The October report from Paso Robles Daily News still lists a November debut. If that schedule holds, the planter will light up for the first time during the stretch of the year when the most people are in the park after dark.
The season, from the park out to the hill
The rest of the holiday calendar runs between City Park and the hillsides off Highway 46. In date order:
- Saturday, November 14, 5 to 8 p.m. Elegant Holiday Evening downtown. Free.
- Wednesday, November 25. Sensorio adds an opening on the night before Thanksgiving, outside its usual Thursday-to-Sunday schedule.
- Friday, November 27, 5 to 6:30 p.m. The Downtown Lighting Ceremony in City Park. Free.
- Saturday, November 28. Black Out Bingo starts on Shop Small Saturday. Players can win a shopping spree in downtown Paso Robles.
- Saturday, December 5, 6 to 8 p.m. The Christmas Light Parade downtown. Free.
- Friday through Sunday, December 11 to 13. The California Mid-State Fair's Winter Indoor Market at 2198 Riverside Avenue. Hours are noon to 4 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with free admission and free parking.
- Saturday, December 12, 6 to 9 p.m. The Vine Street Christmas Victorian Showcase on Vine Street between 8th and 21st Streets. Free.
- December 21 to 23 and December 28 to 30. Sensorio adds Monday-through-Wednesday openings over the two holiday weeks.
Up on the hill, Sensorio runs Thursday through Sunday from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. through November and December. General admission starts at $65 for adults and $30 for children, before fees, and covers seven exhibits, Field of Light among them. If you last went a year ago, two things have changed. The Fireflies exhibit has grown by 270 lights on its original hillside and 775 new fireflies on the hill across from it, and the expansion debuted this month. The Gone Fishing exhibit, which those fireflies now light the paths toward, is due to get a projection river this holiday season. You can also see an illuminated oak with seasonal projection art from Highway 46, so anyone driving east of town gets a glimpse without a ticket.
The millionth-guest countdown comes with a sweepstakes for guests 21 and older. Anyone who buys admission is entered automatically. The grand prize package, valued at about $2,000, includes two 2027 season passes, two tickets to a 2027 winemaker dinner, and a meeting with Sensorio's mascot, Ghost the Cat.
January, and every month after
After the parade and the Vine Street showcase wrap up, the planter between the Carnegie Library and 12th Street will still be lit. The city's terms call for the sculptures to light up for 12 hours each night through a three-year term, and a review could add two more years. Field of Light has spent seven years as something people drive out to see. The City Park sculptures will be on the way to dinner, to the library, or across the square on a weeknight walk, with a phone tap on the plaque away from the story behind them.
Whether your land sits in the hills east of town or a few blocks from City Park, how a place looks after dark is part of its story. Michele Smith follows these changes closely, from the Highway 46 corridor to the downtown grid, and brings the same care to every property she represents. If you're weighing a move or thinking about the future of a property you love, Michele Smith welcomes you to Request a Confidential Consultation.