Elk Grove’s Dickens Street Faire and Illumination Festival return to holiday schedule
Two of Elk Grove’s favorite events are returning to the holiday calendar over the next two weeks.
Saturday marks the return of the Old Town Elk Grove Dickens Street Faire, the city’s traditional start to the holiday season.
The street fair is followed on Saturday, Dec. 4, with Elk Grove’s Parade of Lights.
The Dickens Street Faire on Elk Grove Boulevard from Second Avenue to School Street begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and features free entertainment, food vendors, carolers and a children’s craft corner at Old Town Plaza on Elk Grove Boulevard and Railroad Street.
Organizers expect more than 125 vendors and community groups on hand. Live entertainment continues at 5 p.m., with the lighting of the Old Town Christmas tree on Walnut Street and Story Time with Santa.
Elk Grove’s Parade of Lights returns at 6 p.m., Dec. 4, to Laguna Springs Boulevard. Entries for the nighttime parade are being accepted through Nov. 29.
The parade follows the city’s Illumination Holiday Festival.
The second annual festival from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., at District 56, Civic Center Drive at Big Horn Boulevard, is billed as a multicultural family celebration and features an international marketplace, children’s activities and the lighting of Elk Grove’s Ribbon Tree.
The return of the Elk Grove holiday staples comes during a star-crossed year for longtime city events that were sidelined by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, both the Elk Grove Western Festival, scheduled for May, and July’s Strauss Festival of Elk Grove, were shelved due to COVID concerns. Both events are expected to return in 2022.
Earlier this month, the city’s long-standing Veterans Day Parade was canceled for a second straight year due to COVID-19.
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