Salt Lake City's Christmas season starts the weekend after Thanksgiving, which falls on 26 November in 2026, and runs through New Year's Day. The big displays are free: the lights on Temple Square, Ogden's Christmas Village and Christmas Street in Sugar House cost nothing to walk through. The ticketed ones are ZooLights at Utah's Hogle Zoo and Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. For a German-style market there is one real option, the four-day Christkindlmarkt SLC at This Is The Place Heritage Park, from 2 to 5 December 2026.
Where 2026 details aren't published yet, you'll find last year's dates, labelled as such. Two things have changed: Temple Square is still in the middle of the Salt Lake Temple renovation, and the Ice Castles in Midway, a winter fixture for years, are not running in Utah.
Temple Square: still lit, still under renovation
President David O. McKay of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints switched on the first Temple Square lights on 9 December 1965: about 40,000 bulbs, watched by nearly 15,000 people. The lighting ceremony was dropped in 1999 over crowd safety, and the lights now simply come on for the season.
Temple Square and Main Street Plaza lit for Christmas in 2009, before the renovation began. Image: Leon7, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Salt Lake Temple has been under renovation since 2019, and that has shaped the lights every year since. In 2020 they stayed up but the grounds were fenced off, so people looked in from the surrounding streets. From 2021 to 2024 the displays were smaller and limited to the parts of the square that were open; in 2022 that was about 30 percent of the area that used to be lit. In 2025 the Church put up about one million lights, including international Nativity scenes and lights around the Conference Center, while the area around the temple stayed closed.
Christmas lights on Temple Square at the end of December 2025, with renovation work and a crane behind them. Image: Bobjgalindo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The renovation isn't finished: the public open house, the Salt Lake Temple Celebration, is planned for April to October 2027, so 2026 will be another Christmas with construction fencing.
The Nativity scene on Temple Square in 2009, with the Salt Lake Temple behind. Image: Leon7, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
For 2026 the Church has not announced the lights yet. In 2025 they ran from 28 November 2025 to 1 January 2026, daily from 6 to 8 a.m. and from 4:30 to 10 p.m., and concerts and nightly performances ran from 30 November to 23 December. The usual pattern is lights on from the day after Thanksgiving until New Year's Day, but treat that as a pattern, not a 2026 promise.
The other big event is the Tabernacle Choir's Christmas concert in the Conference Center. In 2025 it ran on 11 to 13 December at 8 p.m., with Stephanie J. Block and Sebastian Arcelus as guests. Tickets were free but given out by random lottery, up to four per household, and registration ran from 28 October to 7 November. The Conference Center is closed to the public from 30 March 2026 to 1 March 2027, but the Christmas concerts are listed as an exception. The 2026 dates, guest and lottery window have not been announced.
The Assembly Hall on Temple Square decorated for Christmas. Image: Bytebear at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Practical info: Temple Square, downtown Salt Lake City. Free. Take TRAX to Temple Square station, which is inside UTA's downtown Free Fare Zone: rides that start and end inside the zone are free (if you use a FAREPAY card, you still tap on and off). Check the Church's Temple Square pages in November for the 2026 hours.
Christkindlmarkt SLC at This Is The Place Heritage Park
Utah's German-style Christmas market takes over This Is The Place Heritage Park, the pioneer-village museum at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, for four days in early December. It is run by Christkindlmarkt SLC, a nonprofit, and describes itself as "inspired by the world famous German Christmas markets": wooden vendor booths, seasonal food and a St. Martin's Lantern Parade.
A play-area cabin at This Is The Place Heritage Park decorated for Christmas. Image: An Errant Knight, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Practical info: 2 to 5 December 2026 (Wednesday to Saturday), 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., This Is The Place Heritage Park, 2601 E. Sunnyside Ave. Free entry, no tickets. On-site parking is limited and paid; the organizers run a free shuttle every 15 minutes from free off-site lots and ask visitors not to park in the surrounding neighborhoods. Last year's market ran 3 to 6 December 2025 with the same hours.
ZooLights at Utah's Hogle Zoo
Hogle Zoo sits almost next door to the Heritage Park on Sunnyside Avenue, and in winter it opens in the evenings for ZooLights, a walk through the zoo grounds strung with light displays. It is a separate ticket from daytime admission.
The entrance to Utah's Hogle Zoo on a winter day, with the Wasatch foothills behind. Image: Bobjgalindo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Practical info: 2600 Sunnyside Ave, Salt Lake City. The 2026 season has not been announced; the zoo's ZooLights page says to check back. Last season it ran on select nights from 28 November 2025 to 4 January 2026, 5:30 to 9 p.m. It was closed most Mondays and Tuesdays, on 24 and 25 December and on 31 December and 1 January. The 2025/26 prices on the zoo's site were $19.95 for adults (13 and over) and $16.95 for children aged 3 to 12, with members $3 off and under-3s free. Tickets weren't refunded for bad weather.
Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point, Lehi
Luminaria is a walk through the 50-acre Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, about 30 miles south of downtown, lit up for the season. Thanksgiving Point suggests allowing at least an hour and a half, plus 30 to 45 minutes if you add the optional Tree of Life garden.
Practical info: 12 November 2026 to 9 January 2027, Ashton Gardens, 3900 N. Garden Dr, Lehi. Closed Sundays, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Entry is timed, with slots every 15 minutes, generally from 4 to 9 or 9:30 p.m. (5 to 8:30 p.m. from 4 to 9 January). Prices vary by date and are listed on Thanksgiving Point's site; book ahead for December weekends. Last year's run was 13 November 2025 to 10 January 2026.
Ogden's Christmas Village
Ogden, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City, has run its Christmas Village in the Municipal Gardens since 1962; the first lighting was on 23 November 1962. It is a light village rather than a market: lit displays and trees filling the gardens in front of the Municipal Building, with Santa visits. Vendor booths are not allowed.
The opening night is the big event. In 2026 it is on 28 November: the Santa Run starts at 4:30 p.m., the Holiday Electric Light Parade follows at 5:30 p.m. along Washington Boulevard from 22nd to 27th Street, and the ceremony, fireworks and switch-on come at about 6:30 p.m.
Practical info: Municipal Gardens, 2549 Washington Blvd, Ogden. 28 November 2026 to 1 January 2027, free (donations welcome). Lights come on at 5 p.m. daily. The city's page gives two different closing times (10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday in one place, midnight nightly in another), so go before 10 p.m. to be safe. Santa visits run from 28 November to 23 December. Free parking on the street, in the Municipal Building lot and in a lot on 26th Street.
Park City and Deer Valley
Park City has no Christmas market, but it has a lit-up historic Main Street and two traditions worth planning around.
Park City's Main Street after a November snowfall. Image: Michelle Maria, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Electric Parade on Main Street, organized by the Historic Park City Alliance, is usually held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving at about 6 p.m., starting from City Park, alongside Small Business Saturday and the tree lighting at Miners Park. Some years it has moved to early December (4 December 2021 and 3 December 2022). The 2026 date hasn't been published, so check with the Historic Park City Alliance in November.
At Deer Valley, the torchlight parade is held on 30 December. "We always hold the parade on Dec. 30," as the Park Record quoted the resort. Skiers carrying torches come down the Big Stick run at about 6 p.m., followed by fireworks, and the resort has served free hot chocolate on the Snow Park plaza from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The resort has not published its 2026 events calendar yet. Santa visits Deer Valley on Christmas Eve.
If you're combining the holidays with skiing, our Utah winter sports guide and the winter sports page cover the slopes and everything else the season offers.
Smaller displays worth an evening
- Christmas Street, Sugar House. Residents of Glen Arbor Street (starting at about 1735 S 1500 E) have decorated their houses since 1947, and the whole street is lit. Free; walk it rather than drive, and keep the noise down, as people live there.
- Gardner Village, West Jordan. The shopping village of historic buildings puts on "Christmas in the Village" from 21 November to 31 December 2026, with no admission or parking fee. Its Santa Run is on 5 December 2026.
- Tracy Aviary Lightwalk, Liberty Park. An evening walk through the aviary's grounds at 589 E 1300 S. It runs every year, but the 2026 dates and prices haven't been published.
- Wheeler Historic Farm, Murray. The farm at 6351 S 900 E holds a free holiday market with more than 50 makers on Thanksgiving weekend (28 to 30 November last year) and Festive Fridays with wagon rides through light displays ($3 per person aged 2 and over in 2025, Fridays from 28 November to 19 December, 5 to 7 p.m.). The 2026 dates aren't out yet.
What's not happening this year
The Ice Castles in Midway, in the Heber Valley, did not open in winter 2025/26. The company said it was pausing Utah to rework its build process and called it "NOT a goodbye for good", but its site currently lists only a New Hampshire location for 2026/27. Don't plan a trip around them unless that changes.
Tips for a December visit
- Weather: December in Salt Lake City averages a high of 39°F (4°C) and a low of 25°F (-4°C), with about 12 inches of snow over the month (NOAA 1991–2020 normals for the airport). Dress for below freezing.
- Inversions: In mid-winter, high pressure can trap cold air and pollution in the Salt Lake Valley for days at a time. Check the air quality before a long evening outdoors; the mountains are often clearer than the valley.
- Driving: Snow can make the canyons and the drive to Park City slow. See our page on winter driving and road conditions before you set off.
- Getting around: TRAX covers downtown, and the Free Fare Zone includes Temple Square. For the zoo, the Heritage Park, Lehi and Ogden, a car is simplest.
- Christmas Eve and Day: Luminaria and ZooLights closed on both days last year. Temple Square's lights ran daily through New Year's Day in 2025, and Ogden's village is lit nightly until 1 January.
- Dates change: Everything above comes from the organizers' own pages and local news as of October 2026; check each official site before you travel. For more ideas, see winter trips in Utah and our Salt Lake City neighborhood guide.
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