On which night is the Belgrade Holiday Light Park complete? The switch flips on Tuesday, Nov. 24, and the park stays lit through Jan. 8. The named ornaments in the Memorial Lights Tunnels don't go up until Dec. 17. The Belgrade Community Coalition puts the park together in stages. It starts with volunteer build days on Nov. 13 and 15, takes a big step on a crowded Saturday in December, and is finished only during the last three weeks of the season.
That order makes the 2026 Festival of Lights easier to plan. Here is the season in the order the town assembles it.
Step one: the setup crews, Friday, Nov. 13 and Sunday, Nov. 15
According to the Belgrade News, the Belgrade Community Coalition is asking for volunteers on Nov. 13 and Nov. 15 to get the Light Park ready for Christmas.
Last year's crew shows how big the job is. The Belgrade News report on the 2025 opening named Panther wrestlers, who had helped in earlier years too, along with members of Central Valley Fire, a NorthWestern Energy crew with boom trucks, and other community members. The Light Park is a walking-path installation built by a school team, a fire district, and a utility crew, and that shapes how the rest of the season plays out.
The park has a short history for an event this established. The Festival of Lights goes back to 1996, when the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce founded it. The Belgrade Community Coalition runs it now. A Coalition post from December 2020 described the Holiday Light Park at the Senior Center as a socially distanced way to keep the Festival going during the pandemic. A workaround from one hard year has become the part of the Festival that runs longest.
Step two: Flip the Switch, Tuesday, Nov. 24
The park sits on the walking path at Belgrade Senior Center Park, 92 East Cameron Avenue, behind the Senior Center. Flip the Switch Night starts at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 24, with a countdown to turning the park on for the season. The Coalition's Festival of Lights schedule calls it "a relaxed, low-key evening to enjoy the sparkle of the holidays."
From that night on, the Coalition's Memorial Lights page says the lights come on every day at dusk and the park "can be visited at any time." Opening week brings the sparkling light displays and the giant ornament built for photos. Last year, Belgrade News reported that families walked the displays on opening night while a food truck parked nearby sold warm drinks.
The Memorial Lights Tunnels stand from the first night. The ornaments that give them their meaning come later.
Step three: the Christmas Convoy, Saturday, Dec. 5
The first December event belongs to a different group. The Montana Convoy Foundation lists the Belgrade Christmas Convoy for Saturday night, Dec. 5, 2026. It leaves Gallatin Speedway at 6 p.m., and the decorated trucks drive a route around Belgrade.
The numbers help with planning a cold night outside. The Foundation says close to 100 trucks take part and that they need 30 to 50 minutes to pass a single viewer. Plan on standing at the curb for most of an hour, so bring layers and a thermos.
The convoy began in 2020, the same year the Light Park took its current form. The Foundation describes its mission as trade-field scholarships for local graduates and financial help for community members in crisis or need.
Step four: the Dec. 12 Saturday, built around one address
Saturday, Dec. 12 holds the busiest day of the season, and most of it happens at a single address. The Jingle Jog 5K starts and finishes at 11 W. Main Street. The Get Ugly Christmas Outfit Contest takes place at the Rhino Lounge, 11 West Main, 90 minutes after the race starts. That evening, the Holiday Hoopla fills Main Street. The Holiday Market is the one event held away from downtown.
| Time | Event | Where | What it takes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. | Belgrade Holiday Market, sixth annual | Belgrade High School Special Events Center, 220 Spooner Road | The Coalition lists more than 100 local vendors |
| 9 a.m. check-in, 10 a.m. start | Jingle Jog 5K | Starts and finishes at 11 W. Main Street | $20 registration until the price goes up |
| 11:30 a.m. | Get Ugly Christmas Outfit Contest | Rhino Lounge, 11 West Main | Two nonperishable food items for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank |
| 5 to 7:30 p.m. | Holiday Hoopla | Main Street, downtown Belgrade | Free, all ages |
The Jingle Jog has an early deadline. The RunSignup page lists registration at $20, with the price going up after 11:59 p.m. MST on Nov. 12, 2026. The race supports BelGREAT, the Belgrade Community Coalition puts it on, and optional packet pickup is offered the Friday before. The Coalition invites runners, walkers, strollers, skippers, and hoppers of all ages, and anyone who runs in festive gear is entered in the Get Ugly contest automatically.
The food drive turns the contest into something more than a costume show. The entry fee is two nonperishable food items for the Gallatin Valley Food Bank, and a full field of racers in ugly sweaters means a full box of donations at the Rhino Lounge before noon.
With the market across town, the day has a natural route. Shop on Spooner Road in the morning or run Main Street, then come back downtown for the Hoopla at 5. The Coalition describes the Hoopla as a hometown celebration where people walk Main Street, stop in at downtown businesses, visit local vendors and organizations, and listen to seasonal music. The Light Park is a few blocks away on East Cameron and is lit by the time the Hoopla ends.
Step five: the ornaments go up, Thursday, Dec. 17
This is the stage that completes the park. The Coalition's Memorial Lights program lets residents buy an ornament in the name of someone they've lost. The ornaments hang in the Memorial Lights Tunnels from Dec. 17 through Jan. 8. The cost is $20 per person, not per couple, in the first year someone is honored, and $10 in each year after. Because the second year costs half as much, the program is set up for families to keep the same names in the tunnels year after year.
Memorial Lights Night starts at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17. According to the Coalition, the evening includes a message of hope from a local pastor, music from local choirs, and a moment of silence. Then everyone walks through the Light Park and the Memorial Lights Tunnels, where each loved one's ornament is on display. The Light Park page describes it the same way: "Ornaments with loved ones' names will be hung for each string of lights purchased through the Memorial Light's program."
Set against the calendar, the timing stands out. The tunnels are lit for 23 nights without ornaments, from Nov. 24 through Dec. 16, and then hold them for 23 nights, from Dec. 17 through Jan. 8. Anyone who walks the park only on opening week, or only on Hoopla night, sees the tunnels empty. The ornaments, more than any other part of the park, are what make the Light Park Belgrade's own. They hang only in the last three weeks, after the crowds from the convoy and Main Street have moved on.
The three weeks to circle
For a resident, that makes Dec. 17 to Jan. 8 the window to walk the path at 92 East Cameron. By then every piece is in place. The displays have been up since November, the giant ornament still works for photos, and the tunnels carry the names families paid to hang there. Those weeknights also fall well after the Dec. 5 and Dec. 12 weekends, when Belgrade's holiday crowds gather elsewhere.
The order of the season shows how the town builds it, and it gives a practical plan. Help set up on Nov. 13 or 15, show up for the countdown on Nov. 24, catch the trucks on Dec. 5, spend Dec. 12 between Spooner Road and Main Street, and save an evening after Dec. 17 to walk the finished park.
At SO-RED, Sunny Odegard follows Belgrade the way an appraiser follows a comp set, one date and one address at a time. Volunteer crews, a convoy, and a Main Street full of shoppers are part of what makes this town's value hold. If you'd like to know what your own Belgrade address is worth this season, start with an instant home valuation.
