Burlington's Holiday Lights Share a Season, Not a Schedule

On Thursday, November 26, the paths through Hendrie Park at 680 Plains Rd. W. light up for Royal Botanical Gardens' Winter Wonders. The next evening, a new 35-foot tree goes up on the Spencer Smith Park waterfront as the Burlington Festival of Lights opens. Both close on January 3.

The two shows cover almost exactly the same weeks, but they run on different schedules. Hendrie Park has gaps in its calendar, and the waterfront is lit every one of those nights. Between November 27 and January 3, Burlington doesn't have a single evening without a major light display. This year the Lions Club is also spreading the festival onto residential streets.

Six Weeks, Two Calendars

Winter Wonders is a timed-ticket event that runs from 5:30 to 10 p.m. You pick a half-hour entry window, arrive any time within it and stay as long as you like. Tickets are $22 for adults, $18 for children 3 to 12, free for children under 3 and $12 for eligible RBG members, all before HST and a $2 service fee.

The Festival of Lights runs on a simpler schedule. Inside Halton reports that the lights at Spencer Smith Park are expected to be on from 4 p.m. to about midnight every day of the festival, with at least 60 displays.

Lined up week by week, the two calendars look like this:

Over the first three weeks, Hendrie Park follows a weekend pattern and is open Thursday through Sunday only. From December 17 to 23 it is open every night, since that's the week before Christmas. After that, its schedule fits around the holidays themselves.

Where to Go When Hendrie Park Is Closed

Winter Wonders is closed on December 24, 25 and 26, and again on December 31 and January 1. On each of those nights, Spencer Smith Park is the only one of the two big displays that's lit. If visiting family arrives on Christmas Eve or stays through Boxing Day, the waterfront is the light show you can show them that week.

The ticket rules also matter when you're planning around guests. RBG tickets are final sale and non-refundable. A full-price ticket can be transferred to anyone, but a member-discount ticket can only go to another active RBG member. Winter Wonders goes ahead rain or shine. If RBG cancels a night for weather, ticket holders get an account credit they can use on another Winter Wonders date. The ticket covers Winter Wonders only. Other garden areas need a separate admission.

What the ticket buys has changed this year. RBG lists new interactive installations that visitors can touch and play with, plus a larger group of craft vendors. Indoors, the Mediterranean Garden and Breezeway have seasonal displays, and the Botanical Train Display is back.

Opening Night on the Waterfront

The festival is in its 31st year and its second under the Burlington Lions Club, which took over organizing it in 2025. According to Inside Halton, the opening-night tree lighting on Friday, November 27 is free to attend. The festival's schedule for the evening:

• 6 p.m.: JR. Red Coats
• 6:30 p.m.: Teen Tour Band, with Santa visiting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
• 7 p.m.: Official welcome
• About 7:20 p.m.: The new 35-foot tree is lit

The opening weekend also includes a ticketed evening indoors. Let It Glow takes place on Saturday, November 28, from 7 to 10 p.m. at St. Luke's Church. It's a candlelit concert with a guest quartet from the Burlington Symphony Orchestra, and it's a paid event. The following Thursday, December 3, the festival's Sip & Shop starts with a mocktail mixology session and then moves through Downtown Burlington boutiques that stay open late for the group. It runs 6 to 9 p.m. and is also paid.

The Neighborhoods Light Up First, on November 21

The two big shows open in the last week of November, but in Burlington's neighborhoods the season starts the Saturday before. Three separate events fall on November 21:

1. Aldershot Village Tree Lighting, 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. The Aldershot Village BIA has confirmed the date and hours for its 2026 tree lighting. Burlington Digest reports it will be held at Sun Country Plaza, 355 Plains Rd. E., with the tree expected to light around 6 p.m.
2. Holy Protection Christmas Market, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ukrainian Hall, 2077 Pine St. It's listed on the Downtown Burlington events calendar, and admission is free.
3. Winterdown Lights & Market, noon to 8 p.m. at Waterdown Memorial Hall, 317 Dundas St. E., just across the line in Hamilton. Hamilton lists it on its city events calendar.

The times barely overlap, so you can do more than one in a day. You could visit the Pine Street market in the morning, go to Waterdown in the afternoon and finish in Aldershot for the tree lighting.

This Year the Festival Reaches Residential Streets

The other new piece this season isn't in either park. The Lions Club's Burlington's Brightest Lights Tour puts decorated homes across the city on an interactive map. Visitors who check in at the homes they see can be entered in weekly prize draws, and the festival's Brightest Lights page lays out how many check-ins it takes to qualify. Displays can be viewed from the sidewalk or from a car. The festival lists the tour as running until December 31.

If you're planning your own display, the deadline is close. Applications to become an official stop close November 15. The home named Burlington's Brightest gets a $1,000 prize package and the chance to flip the switch at next year's opening. In a statement reported by Inside Halton, Lions Club president Olivia Duke said, "We want the Festival of Lights to be something every part of Burlington can see itself in." She added that the tour "puts the festival on streets and front porches across the city."

The tour has no ticket and no entry window.

Parade Sunday Is the One Day Everything Overlaps

There's just one date when the city's parade, the waterfront festival and Winter Wonders all fall on the same day: Sunday, December 6, the last day of RBG's second open weekend.

The City of Burlington's Santa Claus Parade runs from 2 to 4 p.m. Destination Ontario's listing puts the route along New Street and then north on Brant Street, ending near Blairholme Avenue. From noon to 3 p.m., the festival's free Parade Day Pop-Up at Lions Club Hall, 471 Pearl St., has washrooms, hot cocoa, crafts, food trucks and a visit from the Grinch. Parking is available on site.

Here's how the day fits together. The pop-up opens two hours before the parade. The parade ends at 4 p.m., which is when the waterfront lights are expected to come on. Winter Wonders begins taking timed entries at 5:30 p.m. That means you can go from Brant Street to Spencer Smith Park to Hendrie Park in a single afternoon and evening. If you want to include RBG, book an entry time ahead, since tickets went on sale October 28 and every visit uses a timed slot.

Holiday evenings in Burlington are also when a lot of neighbors start talking about where they want to be by next December. If that conversation is happening at your house, Team Durrani can walk you through your options at whatever pace suits the season. When you're ready, schedule a consultation.