The City of Williamsburg lists Court Street beside Bicentennial Park as closed from November 18 through December 29, 2026. That's six weeks of a downtown street given over to the Williamsburg Christmas Market, which is open on 15 of those days. The market's four weekends also set the shape of the rest of downtown's season. The Merchants Square tree lighting, all three Grand Illumination Saturdays and the Christmas Parade each fall on a weekend when the market is open.
The three market Thursdays, December 3, 10 and 17, are the only market days with no headline event and no admission fee.
The closure is longer than the market
The market sits on Court Street next to Bicentennial Park, behind the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, at 320 W Court Street. You enter from Henry Street or Nassau Street. CultureFix, the organizer, lists four blocks for 2026: November 27 to 29, December 3 to 6, December 10 to 13 and December 17 to 20.
Hours are the same every weekend:
- Thursdays: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Fridays: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Saturdays: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Sundays: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
CultureFix lists 40 vendor chalets, Santa photos every market day, train rides, live entertainment, a petting zoo, gluhwein, craft beer and fire pits. Adults pay a one-time $5 fee on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and get a card they can show on later visits. Thursdays are free. Visitors 18 and under, and students with ID, are always free. The train and the petting zoo are included in admission.
That fee is fairly new. In 2023 the Daily Press reported a free market on the same Court Street site, spread across five weekends and running as late as December 23. The $5 Friday-to-Sunday charge started in 2024, the year the Daily Press counted 13 new chalets. The same terms returned in 2025, along with the two-entrance layout through Henry and Nassau streets. The 2026 market keeps the four-weekend format, the fee and the location it has used each year since at least 2023.
The city's listing gives the closure as November 18 to December 29 and lists the market's four operating blocks within it. Plan around Court Street from the week before Thanksgiving until after Christmas, including the weekdays between market blocks.
Every headline event lands on a market weekend
Put the other downtown dates next to the market's dates and they all line up with market weekends.
| Date | Day | Downtown event | Market open? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 28 | Saturday | Merchants Square Tree Lighting, 5 to 5:30 p.m. | Yes, opening weekend |
| Dec. 3 | Thursday | None listed | Yes, free entry |
| Dec. 5 | Saturday | Grand Illumination | Yes |
| Dec. 6 | Sunday | Williamsburg Christmas Parade, 5 p.m. | Yes, until 6 p.m. |
| Dec. 10 | Thursday | None listed | Yes, free entry |
| Dec. 12 | Saturday | Grand Illumination | Yes |
| Dec. 17 | Thursday | None listed | Yes, free entry |
| Dec. 19 | Saturday | Grand Illumination | Yes |
Merchants Square lists its tree lighting for Saturday, November 28, with music, the Fifes and Drums, the Colonial Singers and Father Christmas. It's the evening after the market opens. Colonial Williamsburg holds Grand Illumination on December 5, 12 and 19. The Historic Area is decorated, music plays on several stages, and fireworks go up from the Capitol and the Palace. Each of those Saturdays falls inside a market block.
Saturday market hours run until 7 p.m. Last year the Virginia Gazette and The Virginian-Pilot reported that the 2025 Grand Illumination evening program started at 4:30 p.m. and the fireworks began at 7 p.m. Those were last year's times. If 2026 follows a similar schedule, the market's busiest hours and the Historic Area's evening program will overlap a few blocks apart, three Saturdays in a row.
December 5 and 6 carry the most
The first full December weekend is the busiest on the calendar. Saturday, December 5 is the first Grand Illumination. Sunday, December 6 is the Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce's Christmas Parade at 5 p.m. This year's theme is "Twinkle Through Time." The Chamber says the route is the same as last year, starting on Richmond Road at Brooks Street and ending at Nassau Street. The parade is free to watch.
Nassau Street is also one of the market's two entrances. The market is open until 6 p.m. that Sunday, so the parade steps off with an hour of market time left. The parade's end point, a market entrance and an open Court Street block all meet in the same part of downtown that evening.
Colonial Williamsburg's general parking page lists Visitor Center parking at $10 a day and notes that the rate can change during special events. Free Route 15 buses run about every 15 minutes. For Grand Illumination last year, the Virginia Gazette and The Virginian-Pilot reported that Colonial Williamsburg expected tight parking and suggested parking at the Visitor Center and taking the free bus. That was the 2025 plan. Its Grand Illumination page links to admission tickets for the 2026 dates.
Three Thursdays with no fee and no headline event
December 3, 10 and 17 are the only market days that come with no fee and no other major downtown event. The opening block runs Friday through Sunday right after Thanksgiving, so these three are the only Thursdays the market is open.
On those days the market runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and adults get in free. Santa photos are listed for every market day. In 2025, the Daily Press reported that the petting zoo was open Fridays through Sundays only, and that many of the more than 40 vendor booths changed over during the season. If last year's rotation holds, a Thursday visit in each of the three December weeks could show a different set of vendors each time, with no admission card needed.
Visitors 18 and under and students with ID get in free on every market day. Each adult who pays the one-time Friday-to-Sunday fee gets a card to show on later visits.
The holiday draw that never touches Court Street
The biggest event away from downtown runs on its own schedule. Busch Gardens Christmas Town is open select dates from November 13, 2026 through January 3, 2027. Admission is separate, and it's included for certain membership, College Pass and 2026 Military Pass holders. The park lists Verbolten: Forbidden Turn as making its Christmas Town debut this year. A new concert, Queens of Christmas, has optional reserved seating for $5.99 per date. The tickets page sells single-day tickets and offers All-Day Dining as a $45 add-on.
Christmas Town's season runs past the market's last day, December 20, and past the Court Street closure, which ends December 29. Christmas Town keeps going into January. That makes it the one major holiday event on this calendar that has nothing to do with the downtown traffic described above. Check the park's calendar for open dates before you go.
The Court Street closure is the kind of timing detail we pay attention to all year, because it affects how people get around downtown, whether they're hosting guests, showing a home or just running errands. If December plans involve a move, a listing or a visit from family relocating to the area, Thompson and Partners can build the schedule around these dates with you. Schedule a Consultation, and we'll map out the next six weeks together.
