Oh gosh; someone here probably knows better than I do; I remained willfully ignorant because it was such an amazing mess. In short, years ago the CA filed to stop it, and it was very popular.

https://www.themerriweatherpost.org/post/columbia-association-files-legal-action-to-shut-down-symphony-of-lights

>Symphony Woods is owned by CA. The land surrounds and entirely land locks Merriweather Post Pavilion. MPP is owned by The Downtown Columbia Arts and Culture Commission ("DCACC") and is operated by It's My Amphitheater, Inc. ("IMA"). Various easements and agreements exist between these entities to provide parking and access rights. These agreements have been updated and amended numerous times over the years as the parties and circumstances have changed. The legal action asserts that the Symphony of Lights parade exceeds the scope of the access and parking easement agreements and is seeking an order that would prevent the DCACC and IMA from hosting the drive-through holiday light parade this year.

I could be wrong, so definitely fact check if you're really interested, but I think the short version was the event used to actually be sponsored by Hopkins and would directly benefit HoCo General. Several years back, that stopped being the case and a private company started running it for profit (with some charitable proceeds, I think). CA owned a part of Symphony Woods that allowed access to the Symphony of Lights and used to grant an easement to Symphony of Lights to allow them to run their event. After the new event organizer took over, CA didn't want to allow the event to use the easement anymore (although, that may have occurred before the organizer switch, I'm not sure). I believe that is what they ended up going to court over.