Los Gatos Children's Holiday Parade 2026: Dates, Route & Entry Rules

"It just brings the community to one spot," Los Gatos Lions Club parade co-chair Morgan Lopez told the Los Gatan last December, when the parade was in its 69th year. His quote leaves out where most of that community stands. In 2025, the parade had 172 confirmed units and 6,743 participants. That's thousands of local people on North Santa Cruz Avenue in costume or uniform, or walking beside a float.

The 70th Annual Children's Christmas/Holidays Parade is on Saturday, December 5, 2026. For anyone hoping to be in it, the deciding date comes much sooner. The official entry form closes Friday, October 16, 2026, at 4 p.m. Entries that come in later go on a waiting list and get a spot only if someone cancels.

The parade is a resident event that happens to have an audience

The Los Gatan's 2025 coverage pointed out that many of the adults cheering from the curb had marched in earlier years. The entry numbers over the years tell a similar story.

From 2011 to 2025, the number of entries fell by about 70. The number of people marching barely changed. That works out to about 29 people per unit in 2011 and about 39 in 2025. The parade now has fewer units, and each one is bigger. A scout pack, a school group, or a church choir that enters brings a lot of people. The route and the street closures are the same as ever. What changes from year to year is which neighbors fill it, and that list gets settled on the entry form during October.

The categories on the form give a good picture of who walks. Units can enter as Business/For-Profit, Dignitary, General/Non-Profit/Individual, Marching Band, Police/Fire/Emergency, Boy/Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts/Brownies, Service Group/Association/Church, YMCA Expedition, or Youth/School Group. A unit can walk, ride a float pulled by a truck or an ATV, go in a single car, bus or motorcycle, or come with horses or livestock. The form asks for the unit's length in feet and the kind of sound it will make, from bells and whistles to an electric band.

The rules that keep it a children's parade

The parade is sponsored by the Los Gatos Lions Club and LGS Recreation, in cooperation with the Town of Los Gatos and Los Gatos High School. Businesses can take part, and for-profit units pay a $50 fee. The committee can turn down any entry that it decides isn't of interest to children. The 2026 rules are short:

• Every unit needs a Christmas or holiday theme.
• Vehicles can't carry advertising beyond the name of the entering unit or company.
• Units can't solicit or fundraise along the route.
• The official parade Santa is the only Santa allowed.

The rule about one Santa explains a lot about how the parade feels. Small businesses still take part, but nobody gets to use the parade as a sales pitch. Holiday spirit is the requirement for getting in, and sales are excluded.

Morning-of logistics matter as much for marchers as for spectators. The 2026 parade starts promptly at 11 a.m., rain or shine. Units need to be in place by 9 a.m. or risk losing their assigned spot and being moved to the end. Access streets close at 9 a.m. Trucks, vans and floats need to be in the staging area by 7:30 a.m. The route begins at Almendra Avenue and North Santa Cruz Avenue, heads south on North Santa Cruz to Main Street, then turns east on Main and ends at Church Street.

The parade's founding year is less settled than its anniversary count. A 2009 Mercury News report put the first parade in 1956, but counting back from a 70th edition in 2026 lands on 1957. The same article reported the Lions' description of it as the oldest children's event of its kind west of the Mississippi, and noted that the claim hadn't been independently verified. Seven decades is the figure every source agrees on.

As of early October, the sources reviewed for this post show no 2026 grand marshal and no special theme for the 70th beyond the Christmas or holiday requirement. Last year's grand marshal was Kurt Kroesche, a longtime Los Gatos High School teacher.

The first weekend: a Friday tree lighting and a Saturday parade

The parade anchors the opening weekend of a longer calendar. The night before, the Town hosts Los Gatos in Lights on Friday, December 4, 2026, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Town Plaza Park on Montebello Way. The listing promises the traditional tree lighting "and more winter fun." The Los Gatos History Club planted the Plaza tree in 1923.

The 2026 lineup and the exact lighting time haven't been posted yet. Last year's event, which the Town's newsletter also listed as running from 5 to 7 p.m., gives a sense of it. The tree was lit at 6 p.m., the Fisher Middle School Strings and Encore Choir and the Harker School Downbeat Show Choir performed, the mayor gave a holiday message, and Santa made his first appearance of the season. That was the 2025 program. The 2026 version may be different.

If your household has a unit in the parade, those two evenings run together. Friday at the Plaza ends at 7 p.m. Saturday starts with staging at 7:30 or 9 a.m., depending on the unit. On Sunday, December 6, NUMU holds its Free First Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free general admission and tours.

The second weekend belongs to the Chamber

Once the Town and Lions events are done, the Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce runs the next part of the month. Its Magical Memories holiday program offers free trolley rides and visits with Santa, with no reservations needed, during the first two weekends of December. The Chamber calls it "Los Gatos' newest tradition" and says last year's program served more than 850 families and 1,400 children.

Most of the scheduled hours fall in the second week:

The Chamber's page lists these dates without a year. They match the 2026 calendar, and the Chamber still lists its digital map, Window Wonderland details and hot chocolate dates as TBA. The Santa visits include entertainment, holiday characters, Rotary volunteers helping with photos, and one goodie bag per family while supplies last.

Friday, December 11, is the night where the two programs meet. NUMU's Festive Night runs from 5 to 8 p.m. with free admission, crafts, music, refreshments, and local art and history. The museum notes that the Chamber trolley stops right outside. A family could ride the trolley, see Santa in Old Town, and walk into the museum, all in the same few hours.

Then the season moves to Oak Meadow

The last stretch of the month leaves downtown. The Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad lists its Holiday Night Train & Carousel at Oak Meadow Park from Monday, December 14 through the 23rd, plus the 26th and 27th, from 6 to 9 p.m. The page doesn't print a year, but December 14 falls on a Monday in 2026. It's closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and all hours depend on the weather. The park's entrance gate closes at 8:45 p.m., and tickets aren't sold after that.

The railroad's holiday page isn't consistent about Vasona's Fantasy of Lights. One line says only the first third of the light show can be seen from the train. Another says the lights won't be visible from the train at all. If seeing the lights from the train is the reason you're going, check with the railroad before you go.

That puts the whole sequence in order. The Plaza tree is lit on December 4, the 70th parade is on December 5, the Chamber trolleys and NUMU's Festive Night fill December 10 through 13, and the train runs at Oak Meadow until December 27. The October entry deadline only affects one of those days, the one where thousands of local people walk the route.

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