Dayton's Tree Lighting Left Thanksgiving Weekend, and the Parade Moved Inside the Arcade

Dayton's Grande Illumination is moving this year. It will be Friday, December 4, from 5 to 8 p.m., not the day after Thanksgiving. The Children's Parade that used to follow the tree lighting down Main Street is replaced by free holiday programming inside The Dayton Arcade. The tree still gets lit at 6:30 p.m. on Courthouse Square. Almost everything around that moment is different.

Taken together, the two changes make the kickoff a downtown night you walk. It runs on the First Friday art hop, it's centered on a building that finished its restoration this spring, and it shares the evening with two theater openings and a themed skate night at RiverScape.

The day after Thanksgiving now belongs to the rink

Here's how the day after Thanksgiving looks next to last year's.

The MetroParks Ice Rink at RiverScape MetroPark, at 237 E. Monument Ave., still opens on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year it's the only big downtown opening that day. Daily admission is still $7, and skate rental is still $3. Kids three and under skate free with a paying adult. Season passes went up. An individual pass is $50, up from $40 last season, and a family pass for up to five is $150, up from $120.

If your family made a habit of skating and then walking over to the tree on that Friday, you can still skate. The tree lighting comes a week later.

Why the Downtown Dayton Partnership moved it

The Downtown Dayton Partnership announced the change on October 23. Its release quotes interim president Laura Woeste on the reasoning:

"We've received quite a bit of feedback over the years, both from the event attendees and from those groups that perform at or help put on the event, that Thanksgiving weekend isn't the most convenient time for it. We also wanted to encourage those who work downtown to be part of the event."

In the same release, Woeste pointed out that many families have relatives in town or are traveling that weekend. She said that tying the event to First Friday "also encourages attendees to support downtown businesses and explore everything else happening that evening throughout downtown." WHIO's report carried her line that the refresh is meant to keep the tradition from "getting stale."

The new date is built around people who are already downtown on a Friday evening, along with the businesses that stay open for them. That's why the festival now needs a place for people to go once the tree is lit, and why the Arcade gets the job.

The parade's replacement is a building

The parade goes back a long way. Virginia Kettering started the Dayton Holiday Festival in 1972 so that all children could enjoy the season regardless of their family's means. Dayton Daily News coverage called last year's event the 53rd annual festival with a parade. A Dayton Daily News preview once described the parade as a 45-minute procession of lighted floats, entertainers and animals, with "magic glasses" handed out for viewing.

This year, the festival's footprint is just Courthouse Square and The Dayton Arcade. The Arcade can take that role this year in a way it couldn't before. The Dayton Daily News reported that its North Arcade marketplace would open in March as the final step of the historic restoration, and the paper later reported that it publicly debuted on March 6. Last year's parade ended a night that wound down after the floats passed. This year the evening ends inside a building with shops and restaurants that stay open.

From 5 to 8 p.m. on December 4, the Arcade hosts:

• Kids' crafts and activities in the rotunda, at 35 W. Fourth St., with carolers and performers. Free.
• The Gingerbread House Contest display, where you can see the entries and winners and vote for your favorite. Free.
• North Arcade shopping at 24 W. Third St., in the newly renovated marketplace.

The Arcade's shop directory lists The Contemporary Dayton, Tiffany's on Third, Maria's at the Market, Pink Moon Goods, Too and Willow Rust. Its eat and drink page lists The Garden Grille and Bar, Lucho, Luke's Grab & Go, Smales Pretzel Bakery, Table 33, The Dessert Room inside Table 33, and the 6888 Kitchen Incubator. Two more spots, Invoke and Road Runner Espresso Bar, are still marked "coming soon." In past years, families left the parade route looking for somewhere to eat. This year, the closing activities happen in the same building as the food.

December 4 runs on a clock

Holiday First Friday, the theaters and the rink's Friday hours all fall on the same night, so the evening fills up. Here's the order things happen in:

1. 5 p.m. Main-stage entertainment begins on Courthouse Square at Third and Main. Arcade activities, Daniel Tiger and friends at the International Peace Museum (10 N. Ludlow St., enter via Courthouse Square), and the Junior League of Dayton's Holiday Adventure all open at the same time. Kids who visit every stop on the Junior League's route get a free book.
2. 5:15 p.m. The first free Dayton Holiday History Tour with Andrew Walsh leaves from the steps of the Old Courthouse, 21 N. Main St. Reservations are required.
3. 6:30 p.m. Approximately 50,000 lights come on on the Courthouse Square tree.
4. 7 p.m. The second history tour leaves, and the main-stage music wraps up.
5. 7:30 p.m. Christmas With The Petersens begins at the Victoria Theatre. The same weekend, A Christmas Story: The Musical opens its Dec. 4 to 6 run at the Schuster Center.
6. 8 p.m. Festival programming at the Arcade and Courthouse Square ends.
7. 10 p.m. Holiday First Friday ends at venues across downtown, and so does the "Good Grief" theme night at the RiverScape rink, which keeps Friday hours of 4 to 10 p.m. through Dec. 18.

The old schedule ran from 4 to 7 p.m. and was built around one moment at 6:30. The new one gives you five hours. The tree lighting still sits in the middle, but you can come before it for the stage and the crafts, or after it for First Friday and the rink. History tour spots require sign-up, so book those first.

The rest of December, starting from the new date

The DDP calls December 4 "just the beginning of a month-long celebration." Some of the season starts before the kickoff, and most of it runs well past it.

Rike's Holiday Windows open in the Schuster Center Wintergarden at Second and Main on November 21 and stay up through January 3. They're free, closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, and closed during private events. You can call 228-7591 to confirm hours. Deck the Diamond opens at Day Air Ballpark on November 13 and runs on select nights through January 2. Admission is a flat $13.50 for every date this year, where last season it was $12 Monday through Thursday and $14 Friday through Sunday. The Deck the Diamond site advertises more than 1.5 million lights. DDP's 2025 calendar listed more than 1.1 million.

Two downtown traditions changed along with the kickoff. Last year's Holiday Hop ran Nov. 29 to Dec. 22. This year, Holiday Hot-to-Go runs December 1 through 27 at participating DORA bars and restaurants. You buy a hot drink to go, get a stamp, and four stamps enter you in a drawing for a grand-prize goody basket. The Whimsical Windows contest and Elf Hunt run December 1 through 31. Each photo of a different elf hidden in a first-floor storefront window counts as one entry toward $100 in Downtown Dollars. The DDP also lists the Family Movie Series at THE NEON and photos with Santa in The Dayton Arcade for December.

For grown-ups, the Dayton Art Institute's Art After Hours: Holiday Trivia is December 16, 6 to 8 p.m. It's 21 and over, and tickets were scheduled to go on sale November 4. The Nutcracker runs at the Schuster Center December 11 through 20. Mid-December, the rink moves to holiday-break hours. From December 19 through January 3, weekday skating runs 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Most of the Grande Illumination is still free, as it has been since Mrs. Kettering founded the festival. Woeste said the festival is "excited to mix it up a little this year." Your family's version of the night will probably start at the tree and end at the Arcade.

My family puts these December nights on the calendar early, and I'm glad to share how we plan around downtown parking and where we grab dinner after the lights come on. If you're making plans for the season, or if holiday-time questions about a move are on your mind, Dr. Donté R. Scott is here when you're ready. Schedule a free, no‑pressure consultation.