Littleton's holiday season opens in two places on Friday, November 27, about two miles apart and within an hour of each other.
On Main Street, the Candlelight Walk parade steps off at 6:30. Down South Santa Fe Drive, Hudson Holidays opens its season at Hudson Gardens that same night. Same Friday, same evening. Most families will choose one, and the choice is simpler than it looks once you see how differently the two are scheduled.
One Friday, two openings
The Candlelight Walk is the city's event. The City of Littleton lists it for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Downtown Littleton, 2250 Main St., with carolers, dancing Christmas trees, hot cider and Santa's reindeer. After the parade, Santa lights the big tree in Bowles Plaza, and a drone show flies over the Melting Pot at the west end of Main Street. The drones aren't a first-time addition. Visit Littleton's 2024 holiday guide described the same tree-then-drones finale two years ago.
Hudson Holidays is the garden's lights season. It runs on select evenings from November 27, 2026, through January 3, 2027, and Friday the 27th is opening night.
On paper that's a conflict. On the calendar it mostly isn't.
Only one of them happens once
Hudson Gardens' published calendar lists about 30 evenings this season: November 27 to 29, December 2 to 6, December 9 to 13, December 16 to 24, December 26 to 31, and January 2 and 3. Hudson is open the very next night, and the night after that. The Candlelight Walk has one date.
That turns the Friday question into a ticket question. Which kind of Hudson ticket you buy decides whether skipping opening night costs you anything, and the cheapest option goes on sale soon:
| Ticket | On sale | Adult | Senior | Youth, 3–12 | Ages 0–2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any Day presale | Nov. 6, 10 a.m., through Nov. 8, 11:59 p.m., or until sold out | $15 | $15 | $10 | Free |
| Dated | From Nov. 9, 10 a.m. | $20 | $18 | $15 | Free |
| Any Day, after presale | After the presale ends | $25 | $20 | $20 | Free |
Here's the math for two adults and two kids between 3 and 12. Presale Any Day tickets come to $50. Dated tickets come to $70 and lock you to one evening. Any Day tickets bought after the presale come to $90. The cheapest ticket is also the one that lets you pick any night. Buy it during that three-day window, which opens Friday, November 6, and the Candlelight Walk can have November 27 to itself. Tickets are sold online and at the door.
Before you plan a late visit, check the hours. Hudson's calendar cards mostly show 5 to 8:30 p.m., and its FAQ says 5 to 9 p.m. Both show an early close on December 24, at 7 p.m.
How the Main Street night actually runs
The published times don't quite agree. The city's event page says 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Visit Littleton says 5 to 8 p.m. Western Welcome Week lists its booth from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Read together, the evening goes roughly like this:
- Around 5:30 p.m. The event begins, and Western Welcome Week starts pouring free hot chocolate and cider in Bega Park at the east end of Main Street.
- 6:30 p.m. The holiday parade starts on Main Street.
- After the parade. Santa lights the big tree in Bowles Plaza, and then the drone show flies over the Melting Pot at the west end.
- All evening. Main Street merchants stay open late. You can drop off non-perishable food for Inter-Faith Community Services and toys for the Arapahoe Santa Claus Shop.
The cocoa is at the east end and the drones are at the west end, so the night really is a walk. If you want the drone show, finish your cider and head west before the parade wraps up.
The 2026 route and parking map hadn't been posted yet. Visit Littleton's page still says "map coming soon," and the itinerary it links to is from 2025. Check that page the week of Thanksgiving rather than relying on last year's plan. One planning number holds either way. City figures reported by the Littleton Independent count 3,892 off-street parking spaces downtown against 1,105 on the street. Roughly three of every four spaces are in lots, so plan to park in one and walk.
Also plan your approach from the north side. The city lists the Prince Street Link as under construction from fall 2026 to spring 2027. It covers sidewalk, crossing and bike improvements between Lake and Alamo avenues, including a rebuilt Prince Street and Church Avenue intersection.
The downtown run-up starts three weeks earlier
The Candlelight Walk is the biggest of several downtown dates this November. The stretch starts earlier in the month, and a couple of the earlier dates are easier to miss:
- Thursday, Nov. 5, 5:30 to 7 p.m. The Littleton Museum, 6028 S. Gallup St., hosts the opening reception for "David Ocelotl Garcia: Energy & Movement of Public Art."
- Thursday, Nov. 19. The museum's artist talk with Garcia. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the talk starts at 6.
- Friday, Nov. 20. Pink Friday, downtown's shop-small event a week before Black Friday, with special promotions at local businesses. Town Hall Arts Center bills its holiday show, "Big: The Musical," for a November 20 to December 27 run, and its performance list also shows a 7:30 p.m. show on November 19.
- Friday, Nov. 27. The Candlelight Walk, plus opening night at Hudson Holidays.
- Saturday, Nov. 28. Small Business Saturday, with Historic Downtown Littleton listed as organizer. Hudson is open that night too, which gives the weekend a clear order: Main Street on Friday, gardens on Saturday.
One stop to add to your Pink Friday or Candlelight Walk list is Leaves on Main, an indoor plant and gift shop at 2699 Main St. The Littleton Independent reported that it opened September 5, so this is its first holiday season on the street.
If you're still filling December, the museum's Holiday's Evening is set for Sunday, December 13, from 5 to 8 p.m. That's also a Hudson night.
The street under the walk has a schedule too
Hudson's 30 nights make it the easy one to move. The Candlelight Walk is harder to move for a second reason. The Main Street it runs on is scheduled for reconstruction.
The city has secured $32.6 million for the Main Street Improvements, the first major project from the Project Downtown plan that City Council adopted in November 2024. The project timeline runs design from May 2026 to mid-2028 and construction from mid-2028 to late 2029. On that schedule, this year's walk and next year's are the last two before the construction window opens. The 2028 walk falls inside it. The city says it's still working out construction phasing "to minimize impacts and maintain access to Downtown businesses," and it hasn't said how events will fit around the work.
Some of the changes are already set. Whatever design moves forward, the city told the Littleton Independent, the project will replace and repair traffic signals, streetlights, trees, utilities and drainage. The streetlights and trees you'll walk under on November 27 are on that list.
The Oct. 5 open house at Arapahoe Community College gave an early look at what comes next. In green-dot voting reported by the Littleton Independent, the top picks were overhead festival and string lights with flexible paved space for gatherings, more shade and tree canopy, dedicated restaurant and bar patios, and wider sidewalks with more pedestrian lighting. One attendee summed up the doubt in the room to the paper:
"Overall, it looks beautiful, but can they do it in the space that they have?"
The design isn't final, and the Let's Talk Littleton project page is where the next round of feedback will be posted. Until then, the Candlelight Walk runs on Friday, November 27, with the parade at 6:30 p.m. on the Main Street you know.
If you're out on Main Street that night or at Hudson the next, look for me. I love talking with neighbors about how downtown is changing and what that means for the homes around it. Whenever you're ready, reach out to Arlene Burgess. Let's Connect and Schedule a Consultation.
