No, it wasn’t a UFO or a wildfire or a pyrotechnics display that lit up Pikes Peak the night of Aug. 23.

The swarm of blinking lights came from 202 Tesla vehicles parading up and down the mountain and stopping at the 14,115-foot summit to put on what organizers said was the highest vehicle light show ever performed.

“An electric experience” is how participant Stephen Kneubuehl described the show presented by the Tesla Owners Group of Denver.

About 450 people from Colorado’s Front Range, and across the country, Canada and the United Kingdom, made the 19-mile trek up the Pikes Peak Highway as dusk descended Saturday, as part of a multi-day road rally, according to Diana Fagala, a key organizer.

“The event was fun, family-friendly and a once-in-a-lifetime experience for so many,” she said. “It was a local club event specifically to provide a unique experience for Tesla owners and to be the first Tesla club to hold a high-altitude light show at the highest elevation recorded.”

A storm — and a call from a highway employee saying bad weather was moving in — didn’t dampen the determination of the convoy.

Drivers slogged through lightning, thunder, rain and slushy snow on their way to the top of Pikes Peak, Kneubuehl wrote on X, formerly Twitter, which Tesla investor and CEO Elon Musk also owns.

A driver named Shiloh said on X that they were instructed to stay in their cars for safety reasons and marveled at what happened next.

Like the Red Sea, the menacing clouds parted and gave way, just in time for the vehicles’ software to synchronize flashing their lights off and on.

Simon Pollock of Xlightshows.io traveled from the UK to program the light show and accompanying music specifically for the event, Fagala said. Drone footage captured the record-setting moment.

As it turns out, the en masse electric spark made the peak glow like a bright bulb that could be seen from miles away.

The Colorado Springs Fire Department reported receiving some calls from people worried the mountain was ablaze with flames, not electric power.

“We had no idea the light would go that far — we had people taking pictures from Black Forest, which is 40 miles away,” Fagala said.

Residents on El Paso County’s Eastern Plains and west into Teller County also witnessed some of the flashing, but most weren’t sure what was going on.

The Pikes Peak Highway, which the city of Colorado Springs owns and maintains, rents out what’s often called “America’s Mountain,” to approved groups, said Sarah Braun, parks operation administrator.

The staff had been working with the Tesla group’s application since January to make sure the event would meet the rules and have little environmental and tourist impact, she said.

Employees were able to clear the highway of accumulated precipitation right before vehicles began the climb, she said.

The light show was an uncommon event for Pikes Peak, Braun said.

“I know it was an unusual sight for most folks — this isn’t an everyday or ongoing occurrence,” she said.

Residents are most familiar with The Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb race that happens every summer, fireworks by the AdAMan Club on New Year’s and races such as the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon.

The base cost to rent the mountain begins at about $3,000 and increases depending on the season, the day and time, environmental concerns, staffing requirements and other factors, according to Braun.

Shooting commercials and other video or film productions are a more typical request.

“This one was very unique and very impressive,” Braun said. “It also was an opportunity to have another group of visitors access the mountain and gain an appreciation for it.”