At 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 27, the lights come on over Murphy Park for the first Glendale Glitters since the park and its amphitheater were rebuilt. After opening night, the city lists them on every night from 5 to 10 p.m. The season runs through Jan. 1, 2027, which makes 36 nights in a row. The vendor rows, the stage shows and Santa's weekend display come on only eight of those nights, all of them Fridays and Saturdays.
This year, Glitters is really two events in the same few blocks of Historic Downtown. A Tuesday in mid-December and a Saturday in mid-December are very different evenings, and the city's planning documents show exactly where the line falls.
Murphy Park is the center again
For the past few seasons, Glitters worked around a construction site. The city's Downtown Campus Reinvestment Project rebuilt City Hall and its parking garage, the Council Chambers, the E. Lowell Rogers Amphitheatre and the neighboring Murphy Park. With the park and amphitheater closed, the Glendale Star reported that the center of the event moved to the Glendale Civic Center plaza. The downtown trees were still lit. In 2025 the official lighting ceremony was still held in front of the Civic Center and Santa's Village at 5836 W. Palmaire Ave.
That work is now done. On June 22, 2026, the city announced the completion of the three-year, nearly $100 million civic campus project. The new amphitheater hosted its first big community night on June 20, with the Glendale Summer Band, a Journey tribute band and a drone show.
So for 2026, a June council workshop says Glitters goes back to its footprint from before the project: 57th Avenue to 59th Avenue, between Glendale Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. The October council update includes a lighting plan made just for Murphy Park, and the weekend concerts are billed as LiVE! @ Murphy Park. The event is centered on the park again, and the stage is the new amphitheater.
Thirty-six nights of lights, eight nights of festival
The city's June plan describes "4 Total Weekends" of vendors, music, entertainment and activities. Vendors are approved for kickoff weekend and every weekend after it, and the plan says "weekdays not utilized." The Oct. 27 council update gives the dates and lineups. The city marks this schedule subject to change.
Weekend | On stage | Start |
|---|---|---|
Fri, Nov. 27 | Marilyn's Dance Academy, Lori Ford's Vocal Studio, a local high school cheer squad | 5:30 p.m. |
Sat, Nov. 28 | The Dance Shoppe Performing Group, Spotlight Youth Theatre, Fiesta Mexicana Dance Company | 6 p.m. |
Fri, Dec. 4 | Creative Edge Dance, Purely Dance Performance Team | 6 p.m. |
Sat, Dec. 5 | LiVE! @ Murphy Park: Mega Ran Presents Buddy's Magic Holiday | 7 p.m. |
Fri, Dec. 11 | Movies by Moonlight Presents Elf | 6:30 p.m. |
Sat, Dec. 12 | LiVE! @ Murphy Park: A Winter's Evening With Ryanhood | 7 p.m. |
Fri, Dec. 18 | Michaela's Dance Magic, Cachito Dance Project | 6 p.m. |
Sat, Dec. 19 | LiVE! @ Murphy Park: New Destiny | 7 p.m. |
The lineup follows a pattern. Most Fridays belong to local dance studios and youth groups. The three Saturdays in December carry the ticketed-style headliners, and Elf on Dec. 11 doubles as the December stop on the city's Movies by Moonlight series at Murphy Park. After Dec. 19, the program ends. The lights keep going for almost two more weeks, through New Year's Day, with no vendors and no stage.
Santa follows the weekend schedule too. A September council update calls the park gazebo the "weekend home for Santa's holiday display." If a Santa photo is the point of the trip, plan for a Friday or Saturday on or before Dec. 19.
Kickoff weekend starts before Thanksgiving
Kickoff weekend has its own road closure schedule. According to the September plan, downtown event streets close Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 6 a.m. and reopen Sunday, Nov. 29 at 6 a.m. That covers Thanksgiving Day and the two kickoff nights. On the three December weekends, the streets close Friday at 6 a.m. and reopen Sunday at 6 a.m. If your weekday errands go through downtown, plan around the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, kickoff Friday and three December Fridays.
The city's run of show for Friday, Nov. 27:
- 5:30 p.m. Opening ceremony
- 6 p.m. Lights on
- 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Community performance
- 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Community performance
- 8:45 to 9:15 p.m. Community performance
- 10 p.m. Evening ends
The city's events page also lists the lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. at the E. Lowell Rogers Amphitheatre, with interactive attractions, vendors, seasonal treats, carolers and Santa. The Historic Downtown merchants' site lists the ceremony at 5:45 p.m. Arriving by 5:30 p.m. works with either time.
The next morning, Saturday, Nov. 28, is Small Business Saturday downtown. Shops open at 10 a.m., and the merchants count more than 70 independently owned shops in the district. The streets will still be closed from the night before, so shoppers will be on foot among the tents and lit trees. For parking, the merchants list the Palmaire Parking Structure at 5835 W. Palmaire Ave. as free covered parking. Their site doesn't say how the garage works on event days.
The vendor rows will change from weekend to weekend
There was more interest in selling at Glitters this year than there was space. The city received 150 vendor applications, approved 71, and waitlisted or declined 79. Only 6 applications came from downtown merchants.
The detail that matters for anyone planning a visit is that the 71 approved vendors are "not all at the same time." The June plan called for approving 25 to 30 vendors. Its selection criteria put local downtown businesses first, then product quality and uniqueness, variety, and how vendors did at past events. With more than twice that many approved in total, the mix of food trucks and artisans on Dec. 4 probably won't match the mix on Dec. 18. If a booth catches your eye at kickoff, it may not be back the next weekend.
The September maps also mark a beer tent inside a fenced beer perimeter, plus restroom locations and separate food vendor areas inside the footprint. Only vendors with written approval from the city may sell inside the footprint, and the city plans to enforce that.
The other 28 nights
Take away the eight festival nights and 28 lights-only nights are left. They are every Sunday through Thursday from Nov. 29 to Dec. 17, then every night from Sunday, Dec. 20 through New Year's Day. On those nights the trees and Murphy Park are lit from 5 to 10 p.m., with no closed streets, no vendor tents and no stage program.
These are the nights for a slower walk through the park, for out-of-town guests who are here between Christmas and New Year's, or for pairing the lights with dinner at a downtown spot. The September update says staff were looking into extra entertainment at the gazebo outside Santa's hours, and the October update says Code Compliance coverage for Sunday through Thursday was still being worked out. The weeknight plans could still change before the season starts, but the published plan centers weeknights on the lights.
November dates before the switch flips
The rebuilt park is already busy in the weeks before Nov. 27:
- Saturday, Nov. 7: The West Valley Youth Symphony plays a free concert at Murphy Park. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the music starts at 7 p.m.
- Friday, Nov. 13: Movies by Moonlight sets up at Rose Lane Park, a month before the Elf screening at Murphy Park.
- Saturday, Nov. 14: The Historic Downtown merchants hold their Holiday Open House starting at 10 a.m., with eight-foot wooden nutcrackers, holiday window displays, a new holiday charm and ornament-customizing stations.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: Small Business Saturday, from 10 a.m., on the morning after kickoff.
The Holiday Open House comes two weeks before the lights. It's a quieter, daytime way to shop the same blocks before the Friday crowds and street closures start.
If you'd like help picking a Glitters night for visiting family or a December plan around downtown Glendale, Elizabeth Chionchio is happy to share what she knows about the West Valley's holiday season. Reach out for a Free Local Market Consultation whenever you're ready to talk, holiday plans included.
