Christmas Parades 2026: Chicago, Hollywood, Denver, Dallas and Fort Lauderdale Dates

Chicago’s Christmas parade steps off Saturday, Nov. 21, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. Central Time (CT), according to the Magnificent Mile Lights Festival organizer, and four more big-city parades follow: Hollywood on Sunday, Nov. 29, Denver and Dallas on Saturday, Dec. 5, and Fort Lauderdale’s boat parade on Saturday, Dec. 12.

The table below puts the five in date order with each local start time, our Eastern Time (ET) conversion, where the route starts and how to watch. Where an organizer has not posted a detail, the table says so instead of guessing. A one-page printable schedule is at the end. Thanksgiving week has its own list in our Thanksgiving parades 2026 story.

Christmas parade dates and start times by city, 2026

Date	City and parade	Local start	Eastern Time (ET)	Route start	How to watch
Sat., Nov. 21	Chicago, Wintrust Magnificent Mile Lights Festival	5:30 p.m. CT	6:30 p.m. ET	Oak Street and Michigan Avenue	Stream on abc7chicago.com; rebroadcast Sun., Nov. 22, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on ABC7
Sun., Nov. 29	Hollywood Christmas Parade	Not announced	Not announced	Not posted as text; the organizer shows a map image	TV for 2026 not announced
Sat., Dec. 5	Denver, 9NEWS Parade of Lights	Step-off not posted; telecast 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain Time (MT)	Telecast 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET	Not labeled on the 2026 map	Live on 9NEWS
Sat., Dec. 5	Dallas Holiday Parade	8:30 a.m. CT	9:30 a.m. ET	Downtown Dallas; route not posted	No 2026 channel or air time named
Sat., Dec. 12	Fort Lauderdale, Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade	6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET	6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET	Stranahan House	Viewing areas by ticket; no TV listed on the page we read

The Eastern Time column is our conversion from the organizers’ local times: Chicago and Dallas are one hour ahead of their Central Time, and Denver’s telecast is two hours ahead of Mountain Time.

Chicago: Magnificent Mile Lights Festival parade

The organizer says the 35th Annual Wintrust Magnificent Mile Lights Festival is Saturday, Nov. 21, and lists the parade at 5:30 p.m. It starts at Oak Street and Michigan Avenue and runs south along the Magnificent Mile; the page does not state an end point. The Wintrust Fireworks Spectacular follows at 7:30 p.m. over the Chicago River at Michigan Avenue.

The organizer says you can watch the parade stream live on abc7chicago.com, with a rebroadcast on Sunday, Nov. 22, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on ABC7. One sweepstakes line on the page gives Saturday, Nov. 22; every other line on it says Nov. 21, so we use Nov. 21.

Hollywood Christmas Parade road closures on Nov. 27, 28 and 29

The Hollywood Christmas Parade’s home page lists Sunday, Nov. 29, 2026. It has not posted a start time or a written route; the route appears only as a map image, and the 2026 TV page was not available. Its “Road Closures 2026” page does give closing times:

Closure	When
Sycamore, Franklin to Hollywood Boulevard	Closed Friday, Nov. 27, Saturday, Nov. 28 and all day Sunday, Nov. 29
Other Sunday street closures	Start between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
Hollywood Freeway (U.S. 101) closure	Starts 3:00 p.m.; reopens 10:00 p.m.

The closure page also carries a reopening line with a Dec. 1 date that does not match the calendar (Dec. 1, 2026 is a Tuesday), so we do not repeat it. Check the organizer’s page before you drive in.

Denver Parade of Lights: route and TV

The Downtown Denver Partnership lists the 9NEWS Parade of Lights for Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026, live on 9NEWS from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. MT. Re-airs are listed for Dec. 15 and Dec. 24, 2026. The page gives no step-off time, only the telecast window, and it does not mention a Friday night parade.

The page says the parade “now turns left from 17th street to Curtis Street rather than Arapahoe Street.” The 2026 route map shows the route on 17th, Curtis, 16th, 15th, Glenarm and Tremont Place, without labeling the start or end.

Dallas Holiday Parade: start time and seats

The organizer lists Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026, with a step-off at 8:30 a.m. CT in downtown Dallas. It says bleacher and grandstand seats are for sale and tickets are on sale; the page we read gives no prices. It says more than 350 television stations in 159 markets have syndicated the parade, but it names no 2026 channel or air time, and the route is not stated in the text.

Fort Lauderdale Winterfest Boat Parade: viewing and route

The Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade is Saturday, Dec. 12, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. ET, with a pre-show of non-motorized vessels at 5:30 p.m. The organizer says it starts at Stranahan House, travels east along the New River in Fort Lauderdale to the Intracoastal Waterway, and continues north to Lake Santa Barbara in Pompano Beach. The ticket page lists the Parade Viewing Area at $30.00 through $60.00.

What is not posted yet for the Christmas parades?

• Hollywood: start time, written route and 2026 TV
• Denver: step-off time (only the telecast window is posted)
• Dallas: route and 2026 TV channel
• Chicago: end point of the route
• Fort Lauderdale: TV (none listed on the page we read)

Printable Christmas parades 2026 schedule

The sheet lists all five parades by date with local start, route start and how to watch, and marks what is still missing. Mark the dates on the November 2026 printable calendar and the December 2026 printable calendar. In Canada, Santa parades run on their own dates in our Santa Claus parades 2026 story, and tree lightings are in our Christmas tree lightings 2026 story.