At 5 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4, Wexford School of Rock opens the main stage on Broad Street, and KDKA's Larry Richert emcees from there. Food trucks fill the Green Street lot, ice sculptors work at Beaver and Chestnut, and fireworks go up at 8 p.m. Half an hour later, Sewickley Light Up Night is over.
The next morning the Santa Parade steps off at 10:30, and Santa stays in the Wolcott Park gazebo until 1 p.m. Most of the village's holiday crowd is packed into about 20 hours. The rest of the 2026 calendar is clearly planned for the weeks after that window. It includes four Sundays of free carriage rides and a shopping passport that runs from Nov. 27 to Jan. 16. This is also the first holiday season since USA TODAY 10Best readers voted Sewickley the No. 1 Best Small Town in the Northeast in April, a step up from No. 2 in 2025.
Three and a Half Hours on December 4
This year's Light Up Night runs 5 to 8:30 p.m. The Sewickley Valley Chamber of Commerce's 2025 listing ran 5 to 9 p.m., so the 2026 event ends 30 minutes earlier. With less time, it helps to know which block has what before you go. Here's the layout from the Chamber's 2026 Light Up Night page:
- Broad Street: the main stage, with Wexford School of Rock at 5 p.m., then Neon Bridges Band and JAGGERZ later in the evening.
- Walnut Street: the youth stage, emceed by Tom Forrest, with John Tucci on the schedule at 4:55 p.m.
- Borough Hall lawn: a new Kids' Zone with SweetRide, cotton candy, face painting and a Santa Hotline.
- Beaver Street at FNB: horse-drawn carriage rides from 5 to 8 p.m.
- Beaver and Chestnut parking lot: the ice sculpting contest, 5 to 7 p.m.
- Green Street parking lot: more than 20 food trucks.
- Wolcott Park: Santa in the gazebo.
- Sewickley Public Library: kids' activities.
- The Lindsay Theater: the warming center.
The Kids' Zone is the one item the Chamber marks as new. Putting it on the Borough Hall lawn gives families a home base away from the Broad Street stage. The Lindsay Theater's warming center offers the same kind of break for anyone who needs to come in from the cold between the ice sculptures and the 8 p.m. fireworks.
Six local churches are also listed as hosting activities: St. Paul's Lutheran, St. James, United Methodist, St. Matthew's AME Zion, St. Stephen's and Lighthouse Baptist. Their details are still to be announced on the Chamber page.
Light Up Night is run by the Borough of Sewickley and paid for by corporate sponsors and individual donations. The borough takes contributions through Venmo at @SewickleyBoroughLightUpNight and through a PayPal form on its website.
Where the Cars Go on a Night Like That
Light Up Night brings a lot of people into a few blocks for a short time, so the plan for parking and services matters as much as the stage lineup. The Chamber lists free parking at six lots:
- Heritage Valley Hospital
- Sewickley Presbyterian Church
- Sewickley Public Library
- St. James Church
- St. Stephen's Church
- YMCA upper lot
Portable toilets will be at Hegner Way and Division Street. The public safety and first aid tent will be at Beaver Street and Broad Street, the corner where the carriage route meets the main stage block.
Light Up Night is also a PRC Zero Waste Event, and the Chamber asks everyone to dispose of compostable, recyclable and landfill trash responsibly. With 20-plus food trucks on the Green Street lot, most of the trash will be food packaging, so the sorting starts there.
Saturday Morning Picks Up Where Friday Ends
Friday ends at 8:30 p.m. and Saturday picks up 14 hours later. The Sewickley Santa Parade, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Quaker Valley, steps off downtown at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5. Afterward, Santa is back in the Wolcott Park gazebo until 1 p.m. That's the same gazebo he uses on Friday night. Families who skip the Friday crowd get a second chance at a daytime visit.
The Village Garden Club holds its Greens & Goodies holiday sale the same Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at St. Stephen's Henning House, 327 Broad St. This year the club added advance wreath preorders, with pickup at the sale. Preorders closed on Nov. 6. The sale itself is still on the calendar. It sits one block up Broad Street from Friday's main stage and runs two hours past Santa's time in the gazebo.
Most of the Carriage Rides Happen on Sundays
The carriage rides show most clearly how the season is spread out. On Light Up Night, FNB's horse-drawn carriages run from 5 to 8 p.m., leaving from FNB on Beaver Street. That's three hours, shared with everyone who came for the fireworks.
FNB also sponsors free carriage rides on four Sundays: Dec. 6, 13, 20 and 27, from noon to 4 p.m., leaving from Wolcott Park. That adds up to 16 hours of Sunday rides, more than five times the three hours on Light Up Night.
The Sunday dates are spread across the season:
- Dec. 6: the day after the parade, so the first weekend's activity carries into a third day.
- Dec. 13 and Dec. 20: two mid-month afternoons in daylight.
- Dec. 27: the Sunday after Christmas, when out-of-town guests may still be in town.
Sunday rides also start from a different spot. On Friday night the carriages leave from FNB on Beaver Street. On Sundays they leave from Wolcott Park, the same park that holds the Santa gazebo.
A Bingo Card That Runs Into January
The longest piece of the season is run by the Sewickley Valley Chamber of Commerce. The 2026 Holiday's in the Village of Sewickley passport runs from Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving, through Saturday, Jan. 16, 2027. That's 51 days. It's live for a week before Light Up Night and keeps going for six weeks after the fireworks.
Here's how the Chamber explains it:
- Pick up a Holiday Village Passport at any participating business, or download one from the Chamber's page. The download is listed as coming soon.
- Complete activities on the card between Nov. 27 and Jan. 16.
- Each participating business has a special Holiday Village Passport dot to mark the squares you complete.
- Finish a bingo line of five squares in a row, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
- Turn in the finished passport at the Sewickley Public Library during regular library hours, in the branded ballot box, by 5 p.m. on Jan. 16. Write your name, email address and phone number clearly on it.
Prizes are three gift cards to the participating business of the winner's choice: $250, $100 and $50. Winners are drawn at random from eligible entries, announced on the Chamber's social media channels and contacted by email or phone.
The Chamber ties the program to the 10Best result. Its passport page asks people to shop local "year-round" and notes the No. 1 ranking. The borough celebrated the result in an April 9 news flash: "It's official - Sewickley has just been named the Number 1 small town in the Northeast!" The Beaver County Times reported that USA TODAY 10Best announced the winners on April 8.
One of the Newer Names on Beaver Street
A walk with the passport may pass a newer storefront. Dot Dot Darling, a family-run mahjong club that offers lessons, open play and retail, is at 348 Beaver St. TribLive reported in August that the space was under construction at that address. The club's website advertised a grand opening for Friday, Oct. 30, and says the business was established in 2026.
Dates to Put on the Fridge
- Friday, Nov. 27: Holiday Village Passport begins.
- Friday, Dec. 4, 5 to 8:30 p.m.: Sewickley Light Up Night, fireworks at 8 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 10:30 a.m.: Santa Parade downtown, Santa at Wolcott Park until 1 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Greens & Goodies at St. Stephen's Henning House, 327 Broad St.
- Sundays, Dec. 6, 13, 20 and 27, noon to 4 p.m.: free carriage rides from Wolcott Park.
- Saturday, Jan. 16, 5 p.m.: finished passports due at the Sewickley Public Library.
If you're planning December around the village calendar, or around a home on one of these streets, Beth Danchek Group knows the Quaker Valley communities well and is glad to talk through what you're weighing. Ready to make your next move? Contact us today.