Fridays on the Morristown Green Have Santa but No Train: How the 2026 Christmas Festival Week Actually Runs

At 7 p.m. on Friday, December 4, Santa will still be in his house on the Morristown Green, and the activity tent will be an hour into holiday arts and crafts. The miniature train won't run at all that night. The next afternoon, Saturday, December 5, the train is running from 2 to 6 p.m., Santa has been in since noon, and he's done by 7.

That is the Morristown Partnership's 2026 Christmas Festival at the Morristown Green. It runs from Saturday, November 28, through Sunday, December 20, on weekends and on select Fridays. It runs on three separate schedules: opening weekend, Friday evenings, and December weekend afternoons. Each one has its own hours, its own activities and its own parking situation. Your family's best night depends on which of the three you pick.

Opening weekend is two very different days

The season opens Saturday, November 28, at 5 p.m. Santa arrives on East Park Place and the Green is lit, a tradition the Partnership says goes back more than 100 years. The Town of Morristown Fire Department, Morristown Police, Morristown Partnership and town officials all take part in the welcome. From 5:30 to 8 p.m., Mayo Performing Arts Company performs on the Green and there's an ice sculpting demonstration. Hyatt Regency Morristown, the event sponsor, hands out hot chocolate and cookies. Santa starts visits and photos at 5:45 p.m. and stays until 8.

The next day is much quieter. On Sunday, November 29, the Green is open from 4 to 8 p.m. for Santa visits only. The activity tent stays closed and the train doesn't run. That Sunday is also the rain date for Santa's arrival, so if weather pushes back the Saturday lighting, Sunday becomes opening night.

If your children are mostly coming for Santa, Sunday the 29th is the calmer of the two. If they're coming for the moment the lights go on, Saturday at 5 is the only time that happens.

Fridays are the evening version

Fridays come next, and they work differently from everything else on the calendar. On December 4, 11 and 18, Santa takes visits from 3 to 8 p.m. and holiday arts and crafts run in the activity tent from 6 to 8. The Partnership's schedule states plainly that the miniature train doesn't run on Fridays.

That makes Friday the only night in December when Santa is still on the Green after 7 p.m. On weekends he's done at 7. A family that can't get downtown until after work and school has three nights that fit, and all three are Fridays.

Parking is the tradeoff. The Partnership's festival page says the Morristown Parking Authority offers free parking in the Ann-Bank Garage on Saturdays and Sundays in December. That free window leaves out the Friday evenings. It also leaves out opening weekend, since November 28 and 29 fall before December starts. Rates and garage details are on the Morristown Parking Authority site.

December weekends bring the train, the ice and the free garage

Saturdays and Sundays are the full version of the festival. Santa takes visits from noon to 7 p.m. each weekend day in December, and most of the programming happens then. Each weekend has its own lineup:

Ice sculpting happens only on Sundays: December 6, 13 and 20. A family that wants both the train and the ice carving should pick one of those three Sundays, ideally arriving between 2 and 4 p.m. when both are running. December 19 is the exception to the usual train schedule. Merry Tuba Christmas takes the 3 p.m. hour, and the train starts at 4 that day instead of 2.

The last day also has the most going on. On Sunday, December 20, gingerbread house making runs in two sessions, with ice sculpting and the train outdoors between them. The Partnership's dated schedule ends that Sunday.

Several weekend evening slots, mostly the 4 to 7 p.m. tent sessions on December 5, 6, 12, 13 and 19, are still listed as "Coming Soon." The Partnership says it posts 2026 activities on a rolling basis, and the page was last updated October 26. If one of those afternoons is the deciding factor, check the festival schedule again before you go.

The first full weekend overlaps with the Christmas Market

The first full festival weekend, December 4 through 6, overlaps with the 16th annual Morristown Christmas Market. It runs in Rauscher Hall at Assumption Church, 91 Maple Avenue, with parking behind the church at the Rauscher Hall entrance. Admission is free.

The market's hours don't match the Green's:

• Friday, Dec. 4: 1 to 6 p.m.
• Saturday, Dec. 5: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Sunday, Dec. 6: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Friday is new this year. Organizers told Morristown Green they added the extra day for families, "especially for moms and their kiddos, to do their holiday shopping." According to the same Morristown Green report, the market brings together local and African artisans, specialty vendors, crafters and local retailers, and draws more than 1,500 visitors a year. Proceeds go to Africa Surgery and The Village Angels of Tanzania, two Morristown-based charities that work in Africa.

On Friday, December 4, the two events fit together well. The market is open until 6, and the Green's crafts tent opens at 6 with Santa there until 8, so one Friday afternoon and evening can cover both. That Sunday works the opposite way. The market opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 4, while the Green runs from noon to 7, so a morning at Rauscher Hall leads into an afternoon of ice sculpting and train rides on the Green.

Before you go

A few rules apply every day of the festival. Santa visits are free and first come, first served, with no advance scheduling. Photos with Santa cost $15, and personal photos or video aren't allowed unless you buy one. Everything else is free, and no tickets are needed.

If you're planning on photos, bring the $15 and leave the phone in your pocket in the Santa house. If you just want the visit, it costs nothing.

Dinner after 7

Weekend festival days end at 7 and Fridays end at 8. One downtown option for dinner afterward is Stirling Tavern at 150 South Street. It's open daily from 11:30 a.m. to midnight and serves what it calls elevated tavern fare, including a dry-aged cheeseburger, wings, seafood and seasonal dishes. Stirling Tavern opened on South Street in 2016 and celebrated its 10th anniversary in Morristown this fall. Because it's open until midnight, the late Friday on the Green still leaves time for dinner.

Ryan Dawson follows the Morristown calendar all year, from the lighting on East Park Place to the last train ride on December 20. If you're also thinking about a move in the new year, schedule a free consultation and talk it over while the Green is still lit.