Why the Sturgis Tree Lighting and Parade of Lights Are on Different Weekends This Year
If your family has a Sturgis Christmas routine, it's probably cocoa at Rally Point on Thursday night and floats down Junction Avenue on Friday. So which week is that this year? It isn't any week. For 2026, the Sturgis Area Chamber of Commerce has the Tree Lighting Ceremony on Saturday, November 28 and the Parade of Lights on Friday, December 4. That's six days apart, on two different weekends.
The Chamber's event page still describes the old format, a tree lighting "on Thursday evening, followed the next day by a parade." If you go by habit, you'll show up a week late. City records list the same dates. Both items were on the City Council's March 16, 2026 consent agenda: road closures for the parade on December 4, and the 2026 Tree Lighting Ceremony "on Saturday, November 28, at Harley-Davidson Rally Point" along with an open container request.
This is the second time Sturgis has tried this change. Last year's attempt never happened.
For at least three straight years, the two events ran as a pair.
| Year | Tree Lighting | Parade of Lights | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Thursday, Nov. 30 | Friday, Dec. 1 | Next night |
| 2024 | Thursday, Dec. 5 | Friday, Dec. 6 | Next night |
| 2025 | Thursday, Dec. 4, after a weather postponement | Friday, Dec. 5 | Next night |
| 2026 | Saturday, Nov. 28 | Friday, Dec. 4 | Six days |
The 2025 row looks like every year before it, but the city's paperwork shows the split was already planned.
On October 20, 2025, the Sturgis City Council approved a special event license for the Loud American Roadhouse "for the Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony on November 29, 2025." That was a Saturday, and it was also Small Business Saturday. The Chamber's events overview still has wording from that plan, inviting people to the ceremony "on November 29th, which is also Small Business Saturday."
Then the weather turned. The Black Hills Pioneer reported that "due to the cold weather, the Sturgis tree lighting ceremony has been moved to Dec. 4," with the lights going on at 6 p.m. at Harley-Davidson Rally Point. December 4, 2025 was a Thursday, the night before the parade. So the new format got pushed back into the old Thursday slot, and the 2025 season looked just like the years before it. The Sturgis Public Works Shop weather station logged 37°F and cloudy at 6:15 p.m. on the rescheduled night.
That makes 2026 the first year the Saturday tree lighting may actually happen as planned. It also means the date can move. If the forecast for the 28th looks harsh, check the Chamber's event page or the Pioneer before you bundle everyone into the car.
The Saturday date puts the tree lighting on the same day as Sturgis Small Business Saturday. The Chamber holds that event on the last Saturday of November every year as a day to shop at home. In the old format, the shopping day and the tree lighting were a week or more apart. Now you can do both on November 28, with downtown shopping during the day and the tree lighting at 6 p.m.
The ceremony itself hasn't changed. Organizations set up booths around Harley-Davidson Rally Point at the corner of Main Street and Harley-Davidson Way, which is 2nd Street, with free candy canes, hot cocoa, cider and popcorn. The Loud American sells its hot toddies to adults. A community leader traditionally invites kids on stage to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and then counts down to the lighting. Booth registration is already closed, so if your club or business wanted a table this year, that window has passed.
There's also a new stop for that Saturday's shopping. Hilltop Blooms opened this fall at 1440 Junction Ave A. It's a Sturgis expansion by Dana Keffeler, who owns Keffeler Kreations in Faith, and it held its ribbon cutting in September, according to KBHB. The store carries flowers, gifts, a women's boutique, coffee, clothing, and wedding and event rentals. Its listed Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., so plan to go early in the day rather than waiting until the tree lighting.
With the tree lighting moved, Friday, December 4 is all about the Parade of Lights, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The Chamber's overview says the parade usually has 40 to 50 floats with lights and music, and you can watch from Junction Avenue or Main Street.
The floats compete. Chamber-appointed judges hand out the "Heartstrings" Award, Judges' Choice, Best Lights and Best Sound, and the judges have traditionally been stationed at the corner of Junction and Main in front of the Motorcycle Museum. If you want to see floats at their best, that corner is a good spot. The Chamber also encourages people to browse the shops along the route before, during and after the parade, and its Christmas page notes that businesses on the route often run specials and open houses that night.
The tree lighting crowd and the parade crowd used to fill downtown on back-to-back nights of the same week. Now they give Sturgis two separate busy evenings a week apart, each with its own reason to be on Main Street.
Moving the tree lighting earlier spaces the holiday season out across nearly four weeks. Here is the 2026 calendar in order:
In 2024, the tree lighting and parade both landed in the first week of December, a little under two weeks after the Festival of Trees. This year the tree lighting falls eight days after the Festival of Trees and the parade six days after that, with the concert nine days later and Scrooge Night four days after the concert. If you used to pick one big December night downtown, you now have a reason to come back several times between the weekend before Thanksgiving and the week before Christmas.
Once you set your calendar, the only date that still isn't certain is November 28. Last year showed that a cold Saturday can push the tree lighting back into the old Thursday slot, so check the Chamber's page that week.
I love it when a Sturgis tradition shifts like this, because these are exactly the things people ask me about long after they've moved in. If you're settled in Sturgis and wondering what your home is worth heading into the new year, or you're thinking about a Black Hills move and want to know what a December here actually looks like, reach out to me at Cheyenne McGriff for a free home valuation. I'll give you clear numbers and an honest local read.
Get assistance in determining current property value, crafting a competitive offer, writing and negotiating a contract, and much more. Contact Cheyenne today to discuss all your real estate needs!