Littleton's Candlelight Walk Has a New Map This Year: Santa Lights the Trees in Bega Park

Littleton's Candlelight Walk falls on Friday, November 27, four weeks from today. This year, Santa won't finish the night at the big spruce in Bowles Plaza. In its October/November 2026 Littleton Report, the city moved the tree lighting to Bega Park. The parade has a new start and end point, and the performance stage now sits in front of Grande Station.

The changes move the whole evening. If you've timed dinner, parking and a curb spot around the Bowles Plaza finale, plan this year around a different stretch of downtown.

What the city changed for November 27

The city report spells out the change in one paragraph:

"New this year: the parade route will start at Alamo and Rapp Streets and end at Main and Sycamore Streets. The stage with performances will be located in front of Grande Station and the lighting of the holiday trees will take place in Bega Park."

Those landmarks sit close together. Grande Station's official site lists it at 2299 West Main Street. South Suburban Parks and Recreation's park list puts Bega Park at 2250 W. Main St. The Littleton Museum's history of local parks places the park between Main and Alamo, just west of the railroad ditch. The museum notes it began as Rio Grande Park, once held the 1865 log schoolhouse and the Santa Fe depot, and was rededicated as Bega Park after those buildings moved. The stage and the tree lighting now face each other across the 2200 block of West Main.

The rest of the night keeps its familiar pieces. The same report says the holiday cocktail for guests 21 and older is back, and so is the drone show after the lighting.

The spruce that used to close the night

For years the finale took place at the large spruce in Bowles Plaza, next to the Melting Pot. The city's August/September 2026 Littleton Report describes it as the tree Santa lights each year at the end of the Candlelight Walk and holiday parade.

That report also brought bad news. City forestry staff found ips engraver beetles in the spruce, and by the time they caught it, the infestation had killed the upper half of the tree. Dead sections of a conifer can't recover, so the city planned to remove the top and keep the healthy lower section after treatment and pruning. The report said plainly that the tree would lose its familiar conical shape. Staff was also looking at lighting additions to keep Bowles Plaza a notable stop on Candlelight night.

The plaza still has a role this year. In the October/November report, the drone show lights up the sky above the Melting Pot at the west end of Main Street, right over the trimmed spruce. That means the night's final moment and the tree lighting now happen at two different spots, so you'll want to pick where to stand for each.

How the evening runs now

Visit Littleton lists the event on Main Street from 5 to 8 p.m. The city report breaks those hours down:

1. 5 p.m. Entertainment starts on Main Street, including photos with Santa. The performance stage is in front of Grande Station.
2. 6:30 p.m. The parade leaves Alamo and Rapp Streets and ends at Main and Sycamore.
3. After the parade. Santa lights the holiday trees in Bega Park.
4. Finale. The drone show goes up over the Melting Pot at the west end of Main.

Other listings don't match those hours exactly. The DDA's event page shows 5:30 to 7 p.m. Western Welcome Week's listing for its free hot chocolate and cider booth at Bega Park shows 5:30 to 8 p.m. The city's 5 p.m. start is the safe one to plan around, especially if Santa photos are on your list. Western Welcome Week's cocoa and cider booth also sits at Bega Park, so the drinks and the tree lighting are in the same place.

The 2026 food-and-drink map isn't out yet. Visit Littleton's page still says "map coming soon" for the cocktails, grab-and-go bites, cocoa and cider along Main Street.

Where the new route puts dinner

Under the new layout, the parade starts on Rapp Street and the stage and tree lighting share one block of West Main. Several downtown spots sit right on that path:

• Grande Station, 2299 West Main Street. It's the stage backdrop this year, and its site lists Monday through Saturday hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., an hour past the event's listed end.
• iN-TEA, 2440 West Main St. The DDA lists it for tea, tea cocktails, tapas and pastries.
• Tonic Zero Proof Bar, 5767 S. Rapp St. It's an alcohol-free bar a few steps from the parade start, listed in the DDA's food-and-beverage directory.
• Honnibrook Craft Meadery, 5757 South Rapp St. It's next door to Tonic, and the DDA profile describes a public tasting room.
• DIRT Coffee, 2506 W. Alamo Ave. According to Visit Littleton's 2026 roundup of what's new, it moved into a bigger downtown space in late 2025 with an expanded café and workforce center.
• Outlanes Pinball Lounge, 2555 W. Alamo Ave. #100. The DDA covered its 2025 opening with somewhere between 25 and 27 pinball machines plus beer and wine.
• Hearth, 5610 S. Curtice St. Visit Littleton lists the bakery and café among the businesses that expanded into Littleton in 2025.

The Rapp and Alamo spots cluster near the parade's starting corner. Grande Station and iN-TEA sit on West Main by the stage and Bega Park. Wherever you eat, you'll have a short walk to wherever you want to be at 6:30. Holiday hours for Candlelight night haven't been posted, so check with your pick directly before you count on a table.

Getting downtown with Prince Street under construction

The October 2 Littleton Links bulletin confirmed that construction has started on the Prince Street Link. The bulletin warns of traffic impacts on South Prince Street between West Lake Avenue and West Alamo Avenue through spring 2027. An earlier September 18 bulletin estimated February 2027 and specifically flagged delays during holiday travel.

The project page lists the scope. The city is rebuilding the Prince Street and Church Avenue intersection, widening sidewalks, adding ADA-compliant curb ramps and bike lanes in both directions, and replacing the asphalt with concrete north of the Prince Street Bridge. The work zone runs along the route many drivers use to reach downtown and the Downtown Littleton light rail station. The parade, meanwhile, starts one block over at Alamo and Rapp.

The city hasn't posted parking guidance for 2026 yet. The Know Before You Go page on Visit Littleton still shows the 2025 event and its parking notes, so last year's lots may not apply. The city's Cone Zone page shows current lane impacts. The downtown merchants' October newsletter says pedestrian detours around the work will be marked.

The weeks on either side of the walk

The holiday season downtown starts a week before the walk. Downtown Littleton holds Pink Friday, a shop-local day, on November 20. The Littleton DDA lists Small Business Saturday on November 28, the morning after the walk.

Candlelight night also kicks off the DDA's Sparkle and Stroll promotion. You pick up a Sparkle Card at a participating business and collect a stamp each time you shop or dine downtown. Drop the card at the Town Hall Arts Center or upload a photo of it to enter drawings for gift cards and a $250 grand prize, which is announced in January. The city report runs the promotion from November 27 to December 24. The DDA's campaign page lists December 31 and gives a December 31, 2026 entry deadline, so go by the DDA page for the final date.

The walk also shares its night with Hudson Holidays at Hudson Gardens, which opens November 27 and runs through January 3, 2027. That's one day earlier at each end than last season's November 28 to January 4 run, according to Littleton Independent coverage of the 2025 season. The gardens' opening night listing advertises a 9,000-square-foot holiday maze and the Holiday Railroad. The main Hudson Holidays page also lists Santa photos and a sensory-friendly night on December 2. That gives families two Santa photo options that Friday, one on Main Street starting at 5 p.m. and one at Hudson Gardens, and the gardens stay open for the holidays into January if you'd rather save that visit for another night.

Downtown Littleton is full of older homes and storefronts, and Nick Evancich has spent 30 years watching Main Street change. If the move from Bowles Plaza to Bega Park has you thinking about what your own place near downtown is worth, THE LIST can give you a straight answer. Let's connect, and start with a free home valuation.