Laguna's Holiday Calendar Runs on Two Tracks Until Dec. 4
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
At 3 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 4, sections of Forest Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Beach Street and Glenneyre Street will start closing to cars ahead of Hospitality Night. By then, Sawdust's Winter Fantasy up Laguna Canyon Road will have been open for four hours. It's the first day of the festival's third weekend.
For most of the season, Laguna's holidays run on two schedules. The canyon side repeats: Sawdust is open Friday through Sunday from Nov. 20 to Dec. 20, with trolleys timed to those weekends. Downtown and along the coast, the season is a set of one-day events: a tree lighting here, a holiday market there, a show that opens on a Saturday. The two schedules share a few weekends, but they run closest together from Thursday, Dec. 3 to Monday, Dec. 7. Friday the 4th is the only day when the canyon festival and the downtown celebration are open during the same evening hours.
You can follow the season's shape through its tree lightings.
The first is in the canyon. For its 36th Winter Fantasy, Sawdust will hold an opening-weekend tree lighting on Saturday, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. The Laguna Beach Independent says the festival will bring together more than 180 artists.
A week later, the next lighting is on the coast. Surf & Sand Laguna Beach starts its holiday events on Saturday, Nov. 28 with a free Seaside Tree Lighting on the Bella Vista Terrace, according to the Independent's Nov. 6 Town Crier.
The third is downtown. On Dec. 4, Santa arrives at the Peppertree Lot, also called Lot 2, and lights the tree at 6:10 p.m. That's the centerpiece of Hospitality Night, which the City of Laguna Beach and the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce co-sponsor on the first Friday of every December.
Through the first two weekends, the season's events are spread out. A Sawdust weekend and the Surf & Sand lighting are separate trips that happen to share a calendar. The downtown lighting is different because it lands on a Friday when Sawdust is open. From that point on, the canyon and downtown share a weekend.
Here is what's on from Thursday through Monday:
The Thursday and Monday events fall outside Sawdust's Friday-to-Sunday hours, so they have the town mostly to themselves. Friday is the only one of the five days when the canyon and downtown are busy at the same hour.
The city calls its Hospitality Night lineup a tentative schedule. As published now, here is how it lines up with Sawdust's hours and the Canyon Route trolley:
| Time | Canyon: Sawdust and Lot 16 | Downtown: Hospitality Night |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 a.m. | Canyon Route trolley from Lot 16 begins | |
| 11:00 a.m. | Winter Fantasy opens | |
| 3:00 p.m. | Street closures begin | |
| 4:00 p.m. | Free trolley and neighborhood on-demand service begins | |
| 5:00 p.m. | Thurston Middle School Band in the Peppertree Lot; crafts and business open houses begin | |
| 5:30 p.m. | Ukulele Academy performs | |
| 6:10 p.m. | Santa lights the tree | |
| 6:15 p.m. | Laguna Community Concert and JaZz Band | |
| 6:30 p.m. | Santa at his Beach House; Anneliese School on the Forest Avenue Main Stage | |
| 7:00 p.m. | Winter Fantasy closes | Music on the Main Stage on the Promenade |
| 8:00 p.m. | Canyon Route service ends | |
| 9:00 p.m. | Hospitality Night ends | |
| 11:00 p.m. | Trolley and on-demand service end |
Both events run from 5 to 7 p.m., and the downtown trolley service starts an hour earlier, at 4. After that, the town's attention moves downtown. Sawdust closes at 7, the Canyon Route stops at 8, and the Hospitality Night trolley and on-demand service run for two hours after the last song on the Promenade.
The Laguna Beach Presbyterian Art Market is part of the evening too, running from 5 to 7 p.m. with La Playa Tamales, homemade cookies and cider, an open sanctuary, prayer candles and caroling. Those two hours fall entirely within Sawdust's final two hours. On that Friday, you can shop for artist-made gifts in the canyon and at a church art market downtown during the same window.
The city runs three trolley options during the season, and Dec. 4 is the one day all three run at once.
Winter Express. This trolley leaves a free parking lot at 16355 Laguna Canyon Road in Irvine, near the I-405 and SR-133 interchange, on the hour and half hour. It runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from Nov. 20 through Dec. 20 and stops at the Sawdust Art Festival and downtown. Both parking and the ride are free, according to the city's Winter Express page. Downtown, it connects with the regular Laguna Beach Trolley along Coast Highway in both directions. The Laguna Beach Trolley app shows trolleys in real time.
Canyon Route. Parking at Lot 16/Act V, 1900 Laguna Canyon Road, costs $5. The trolley from there to Sawdust and downtown is free and runs every 30 minutes from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday through Sunday, over the same five weekends.
Hospitality Night service. On Dec. 4 only, free trolley and neighborhood on-demand service runs from 4 to 11 p.m.
On every other Winter Fantasy weekend, the first two options are mainly for visitors driving in from outside town. On Dec. 4, the neighborhood on-demand service extends the system to residents' own streets for one evening. It's also the only option that runs into the late hours after the canyon trolley stops. The city has posted a map of the Hospitality Night street closures.
Winter Fantasy has set prices for 2026. A single-day ticket costs $12.50 for adults, $10.50 for seniors 65 and older, and $5.50 for youth ages 6 to 12. Children under 5 get in free and don't need a ticket. The 2026 Winter Pass covers unlimited entry for $35.50. Three adult single-day tickets come to $37.50, so the pass saves money by the third visit. With fifteen open days across five weekends, an adult could use a pass to stop by on Dec. 4 before heading downtown, then come back for the final weekend.
Single-day tickets bought online are $2 cheaper through Nov. 20, Winter Fantasy's opening day.
According to the Independent, the grounds will have Candy Cane Lane, trees decorated by local community organizations, photos with Santa, carolers, roaming musicians, puppet shows and the Balloon Diva. There will also be holiday art classes and Sawdust's mulled wine, served in holiday mugs. Food comes from local vendors including The Cove by Starfish, AhbA and Espresso on the Go. Sawdust president Jay Grant told the Independent that meeting the artists matters: "That connection is something you can't get from a gift bought online, and it's why so many families have made us part of their holiday traditions."
After Dec. 7, the two schedules spread apart again, and the remaining single-day events move toward the coast and the museum:
The season's last weekend mirrors its first. A market on the coast runs the same two days that the canyon festival closes, so Dec. 19 and 20 are a second, smaller overlap. Later in the month, Surf & Sand's Splashes restaurant serves special menus on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
Holidays in Laguna Beach have always been part of how our team at Ballesteros Group knows this town, from Sawdust's canyon grounds to the Peppertree Lot on the first Friday of December. If you'd like help planning around Dec. 4, or just want to compare notes on the season, Let's Connect.
Education
Breaking Down This Coastal Market by What You're Actually Buying.
We will work tirelessly to ensure you have the best experience whether you are selling your home, looking to purchase an investment property or searching for your forever house. We are here for you and don’t just walk away after closing. We pride ourselves on our long term relationships with our clients and will guide you through all the necessities you need before, during and after your selling or buying experience.