On the evening of Saturday, December 5, the floats will line up in rows in Lot 175 on Franklin. Parade marshals will send them west onto Franklin Street, which organizers have marked as a quiet zone: no practicing instruments and no music until the parade starts. At 6:30 p.m. the first entry leaves from Granada and Franklin. The last one comes back to Church and Franklin, close to the spot where the line-up started.
The 2026 route runs through the El Presidio neighborhood, and the entertainment and activities are at Jácome Plaza. For years the parade ran south of downtown. This year it runs on the north side, a few blocks from the festival, the holiday tree and the other downtown events of December.
Where the parade used to run
In 2025 the parade started at 17th Street and 4th Avenue. It went north on 4th Avenue to 12th Street, west on 12th to 6th Avenue, then south on 6th Avenue to finish at Armory Park, 222 S. 5th Avenue. The Downtown Tucson Partnership's listing for that 31st parade recommended watching from 6th Avenue between Broadway and 13th Street, or from 4th Avenue between 12th and 17th Streets. The 2024 parade used the same loop.
If you have a favorite curb on 6th Avenue, it won't help you this year. This time the organizers recommend one viewing spot instead of two stretches of street: Jácome Plaza, 101 N. Stone Avenue.
The new route stays close to its own festival
According to the 2026 entry guide, the route uses Alameda, Pennington and Church Avenue. Entries keep to the south side of Alameda and make a wide right turn from Pennington onto Church, staying on the east side of Church as they head toward the finish. The full turn-by-turn route is on the organizers' route map. Look at it before you choose where to stand.
The day starts well before dark. Here is the order of events, based on the general information page and the Downtown Tucson Partnership's October 6 release:
- 3 p.m. The Downtown Holiday Festival opens at Jácome Plaza with a holiday market, food and live music. Admission is free.
- Afternoon into evening. This year adds scheduled photo times with Santa, Mrs. Claus and the Grinch, plus a children's activity area sponsored by Imago Dei School. The Truly Nolen Holiday Car Showcase is on Pennington Street between Stone Avenue and Scott Avenue.
- 6:30 p.m. The parade leaves Granada and Franklin and heads through El Presidio.
- 8 p.m. The festival at Jácome Plaza closes.
The partnership calls December 5 both the Holiday Tree Lighting and the Parade of Lights, "the season's biggest day." Under the new layout you can spend the afternoon at the market, watch the parade and see the tree without moving the car. For parking, organizers point to downtown garages and lots and link to Park Tucson for locations. People walking in the parade are asked not to park in the neighborhood or the staging area.
Jácome Plaza hosts the whole season
The parade is the largest event at Jácome Plaza this season, but it isn't the first. Since the route change, the downtown calendar from mid-November to mid-December sits on the same few blocks:
- November 13–14. DUSK Music Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary with two days of music, art and food in Jácome Plaza on Friday and Saturday.
- Mid-November. The 36-foot holiday tree returns to Jácome Plaza as the centerpiece of downtown's holiday season. The street trees along downtown blocks have been lit since the end of October and will stay lit through December.
- November 28. On Small Business Saturday, the partnership invites shoppers downtown to its independent retailers, galleries, coffee shops and restaurants.
- December 5. The festival, the parade and the tree lighting.
- December 6. The 43rd annual Menorah Lighting, billed as the tallest in Southern Arizona, runs from 5 to 6 p.m. at El Presidio Plaza.
- December 13. The Downtown Experience is a museum series on the second Sunday of each month through April 2027. It links Children's Museum Tucson, the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block, and the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum into one walking day.
The parade now runs on the same streets as the season's other downtown events. For a later stop after the parade, the partnership's release lists The BrandyLion in El Presidio among the smaller downtown venues with jazz, local music and late-night shows.
The following weekend is the busy one
Downtown's big night comes first. The next weekend brings the crowds to two other parts of the city, and the published hours put them at different times of day.
The 57th annual Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair runs December 11 through 13. Organizers say the fair draws more than 350,000 visitors, with more than 350 artists and more than 40 food vendors. The new feature this winter is Fresh Off Fourth, a separate market area for farmers, ranchers and makers on 7th Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. The Winterhaven Festival of Lights opens on the Saturday of that weekend and runs nightly through December 26.
| Day | Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair | Winterhaven Festival of Lights | Tohono Chul Holiday Nights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Dec. 11 | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Not yet open | 6 to 9 p.m. |
| Saturday, Dec. 12 | 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Opening night, 6 to 10 p.m. | 6 to 9 p.m. |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 6 to 10 p.m. | 6 to 9 p.m. |
| Admission | Free | Free, suggested donation | $25 general, $20 members, $10 ages 2–17 |
The fair closes an hour before Winterhaven opens on Saturday. You can do the fair in daylight and walk Winterhaven after dark on the same day. The pairing isn't new. In 2025 the fair ran December 12–14 and Winterhaven opened December 13, so both moved one calendar day earlier this year and fell on the same weekend again. Tohono Chul's Holiday Nights covers both weekends, with public nights December 5–6, 11–13 and 18–20 after a Members' Night on December 4.
For the fair, organizers run a free shuttle from the Pennington Street Garage, with stops at Pennington and 6th Street and at 5th Avenue and 7th Street. They also suggest parking along the Sun Link streetcar line. Pennington is a street on both weekends. It is part of the parade route on the 5th and the shuttle origin on the 11th.
Winterhaven stays a walking event
Winterhaven is still in the Winterhaven neighborhood near Country Club Road and Fort Lowell Road. Organizers do not allow parking on the neighborhood's streets. The parking page says parking enforcement runs every night and violators may be ticketed or towed. It lists designated lots at nearby businesses, schools and churches on Fort Lowell, Country Club and Prince Road. For Lyft, organizers give 2718 E. Prince Road as the drop-off point, near the Prince and Treat entrance.
The festival runs as a walking event, and there are two specialty options. Arizona Party Bikes offers guided rides on its Holiday Lit Party Bike, and Silent Adventures Tucson runs a 60-minute silent disco walking tour. For guests in assisted living or who need mobility support, there are two free bus nights for pre-registered groups, sponsored by Watermark Communities. They run Monday, December 14, and Wednesday, December 16, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., with staging at Northminster Presbyterian Church, 2450 E. Fort Lowell Road. In 2025 those nights were December 15 and 17.
The festival raises money for the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, with a $60,000 goal this year. Donation stations are at every entrance, and organizers encourage cash gifts over food. For one more lights outing after Winterhaven closes on the 26th, the Tucson Botanical Gardens' LightsUp! is in its fifth year. It runs November 27 through January 10, Tuesday through Sunday, from 6 to 9:30 p.m.
Marta is a Tucson native, and December traditions like these are part of what she thinks about when she advises on homes across the city. If this season has you thinking about a home on one of these streets, or about the one you already own, start with a conversation with Marta Harvey. Get My Valuation.
