If you want to take part in Fallbrook's holiday season rather than just watch it, the date that matters isn't the tree lighting. It's today, Thursday, Nov. 12. That's the deadline for Christmas Parade entries, and at 10 a.m. registration opens for the Holiday Wine & A Bite Art Walk.
The Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce runs most of the season as "Christmas in the Village," and almost all of it lands on the same stretch of Main Avenue. The events that let you take part have limits. The parade caps its entries, the art walk has sold out before, and last year's artisan faire filled up and closed applications. Watching is open to everyone. Taking part depends on getting in early, and for 2026 that window closes about now.
What closes or opens today
The Chamber picked "Americana Christmas" as the 2026 parade theme, and it's asking participants to use the theme in two places: parade floats and downtown window displays. This is the parade's 45th year. As Village News reported in October, the Chamber will accept up to 100 entries, and entry forms were already arriving at its office weeks ago.
| What | Action | When |
|---|---|---|
| 45th Annual Fallbrook Christmas Parade | Entry deadline, 100-entry limit | Thursday, Nov. 12 |
| Holiday Wine & A Bite Art Walk | Registration opens | Thursday, Nov. 12, 10 a.m. |
| Village Artisan Faire | Shopping day on Main Avenue | Saturday, Nov. 28, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
Businesses, clubs and groups still deciding on a float can pick up an application at the Chamber office or download one from the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce website. On the site, go to the Events tab, then Christmas in the Village, then Christmas Parade. The Chamber also has sponsorship packages and takes calls about them at 760-728-5845.
The art walk is the event with a guest list
The parade is free for anyone standing along the curb. The Holiday Wine & A Bite Art Walk works differently. It's a ticketed evening, Friday, Dec. 11, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Main Avenue in downtown Fallbrook, and the Chamber's event listing shows registration opening at 10 a.m. today.
The 2026 host venues haven't been posted yet, so last year's edition is the best guide to how the night runs. For the 2025 holiday walk, Village News described food and wine from local restaurants and wineries at every stop, all included in the ticket price, with the wine poured into a keepsake glass. The 2025 hosts included Adore & Co., Jewelry Connection, Pink Poppy Designs, Rexy's and Sharon's on Main.
Wine & A Bite also has a sellout on record. The Chamber marked its September 9, 2022 edition "SOLD OUT." That's why the registration date matters more for this event than for anything else on the December calendar.
The Main Avenue calendar, in order
Once the deadlines pass, the season becomes a sequence of events on Main Avenue, with a few venues just off it. Here it is in order:
- Now through Jan. 2, 2027: The Fallbrook Art Center Holiday Show is open at 103 S. Main Ave., with handcrafted work from regional artists. It opened with a public reception on Nov. 7.
- Saturdays, Nov. 14 and Nov. 21: The downtown Farmers Market sets up on Main Avenue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to the Chamber calendar.
- Saturday, Nov. 28: The Village Artisan Faire runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Main Avenue, the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The Chamber's listing promises handmade artisan products, art objects, live music and holiday treats. Vendors filled the 2025 faire to the point that the Chamber closed applications.
- Friday, Dec. 4, and Saturday, Dec. 5: Tree lighting one night, parade the next. More on both below.
- Friday, Dec. 11: The Holiday Wine & A Bite Art Walk, 5 to 8 p.m.
The faire and the art walk use the same downtown storefronts as the parade, so the window displays in the parade theme stay up for all of them. A shop that decorates for "Americana Christmas" in late November has an audience at the faire, at the parade and again for the art walk two Fridays later.
Dec. 4 and 5 bracket the weekend
The Friday and Saturday of the first December weekend hold the season's two biggest public moments, in two different parts of town.
Friday at the Community Center. The Fallbrook Tree Lighting Festival takes place at the Fallbrook Community Center, 341 Heald Lane, and the Community Center's Parks & Rec office is the contact. The Chamber listing has it wrapping up at 7:30 p.m. At last year's festival, the 13th, Village News reported business vendors, local nonprofits, community outreach groups, food and entertainment from 5 to 7:30 p.m., leading up to the lighting of the official town holiday tree. Among the 2025 vendors was Anna's Swedish Sweet Treats, run by owner Anna Christ. That makes this year's festival the 14th.
That same Friday, the Fallbrook Mission Theater is showing Holiday Affair, the 1949 film with Robert Mitchum, Janet Leigh and Wendell Corey. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the movie starts at 7. Tickets are $10 at the door before 6:30 p.m. and $12 after. From 5 to 6 p.m. there's a happy hour in the second-floor lounge and game room, with $5 beer, wine and margaritas.
Saturday on Main Avenue. The 45th Annual Fallbrook Christmas Parade steps off at 5 p.m. It starts at Ammunition Road and ends at Ivy Street, near the historic Mission Theater. Village News calls it a nighttime event, and the Chamber says it kicks off Christmas in the Village. The Chamber's listing blocks out 5 to 8 p.m. on Main Avenue.
Last year's parade was a good preview. The Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Color Guard led the 2025 parade, according to a Village News photo caption. The San Diego Union-Tribune listed Santa, lighted floats, music, marching bands, dancers and classic cars in its 2025 holiday parade roundup. The 2025 theme was "Candy Cane Lane." Moving to "Americana Christmas" for the 45th year gives float builders and window decorators a very different set of materials to work with.
After the art walk, the season moves indoors
After the Dec. 11 art walk, the street events are done. The rest of December moves indoors, to the Community Center and to a couple of rooms on Main Avenue.
- Breakfast with Santa, Saturday, Dec. 19, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Fallbrook Community Center, 341 Heald Lane. It's back at the same building as the tree lighting, with the Community Center as the event contact.
- A Gin 'NTonix Christmas, Sunday, Dec. 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Mission Theater, 231 N. Main Ave. The theater bills it as a live stage show and sells tickets through its calendar page.
- New Year's Eve Celebration Dance Party at the Mission Theater on Dec. 31, also listed on the theater's calendar.
- Fallbrook Art Center Holiday Show, open at 103 S. Main Ave. through Jan. 2, 2027. It opened before the Nov. 12 deadlines, and it will still be up after every other event on this list has ended.
The Mission Theater stands out in the second half of December. The parade ends near its doors on Dec. 5, and it's showing a holiday film the night before, a holiday stage show on Dec. 20 and a dance party to close the year. Of all the downtown venues, it's on the calendar more often this season than any other.
If you plan to enter a float, register for the art walk or decorate a storefront window for "Americana Christmas," today's the day to do it. Kevin Laurent has spent more than 24 years helping homeowners across North County, Fallbrook included. If you're thinking about what your own Fallbrook home is worth this winter, let's connect for a complimentary home valuation.
