Holiday Events in South Jersey, 2026: Parades, Tree Lightings and Turkey Trots

Free, at Sunset Lake, with music, light refreshments and a visit from Santa.

Free, at Byrne Plaza in downtown Wildwood, put on by the Wildwood Business Improvement District.

At Ventnor City Hall.

Choir and dance performances, hot chocolate and cookies, vendors, the tree lighting and the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus, at the Washington Lake Park amphitheater. The rain date is Sunday, December 6.

Free, in the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse courtyard at 1st and Central Avenues, with music from the Margaret Mace School choir and a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

The township's Christmas Village at Veterans Park, with Santa there for photos. The tree lighting follows a 6 PM choir performance. Rain date is Sunday, December 13.

Always the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The parade starts at Zane Avenue and runs to West Linden Avenue. Check the borough's page for this year's start time.

Free. The parade starts at 16th Avenue, travels down Central and Pacific Avenues, and ends at Byrne Plaza in downtown Wildwood with a tree lighting and awards.

Runs down Asbury Avenue from 6th Street to 11th Street. Last year the same weekend had Santa visits and a train show.

A holiday village on the Burlington Riverfront Promenade with free Santa photos, a free ice skating rink, food trucks and face painting, plus the Christmas parade on High Street. A tree lighting ends the day.

Along Ventnor Avenue, from New Haven to Nashville.

Always the first Saturday in December, and now in its 57th year. It starts at the West Cape May firehouse and follows Broadway and Perry Street into Cape May.

A nighttime parade down Bellevue Avenue (Route 54), from North Liberty Street to Egg Harbor Road.

Santa in the Downtown runs 9 to 11 AM and Photos with Santa noon to 3 PM on these days. The December listings put them at Soifer Park and the Music Pier.

Santa on a fire truck. The city's events calendar gives the location as various.

The Mullica Hill dairy farm's holiday light display.

A free evening in Downtown Glassboro from 6 to 9 PM, with food trucks, selfie stations and holiday activities.

The 52nd year of Cape May MAC's evening tours of houses decorated for Christmas, held every year since 1974. Tickets are required.

Free. A half-hour light show runs every half hour at 123 E. Andrews Ave., with free hot chocolate and popcorn, a letters-to-Santa station and Mr. and Mrs. Claus.

A holiday light show in the middle of the village's shops and restaurants.

A hayride through the farm's holiday lights.

More than a million lights, and Santa lights the park each night. The park says holiday tickets go on sale after its trick-or-treat weekends.

A Thanksgiving morning 5K that starts at the Music Pier on the Boardwalk.

The ninth year of this Thanksgiving morning 5K at Crows Woods in Haddonfield. The fun run starts at 8:05 AM.

An untimed 5K and a one-mile run on the high school cross country course, 350 Bridgeboro Road.

A 5K run and a 1-mile nature walk at the Egg Harbor Township Nature Reserve, rain or shine. There is no parking on site; a shuttle runs from Atlantic Christian School.

Ocean City's family New Year's Eve had more than 70 programs last year. On New Year's Day the city follows it with First Day, a 5K and an ocean dip.