Geneva's Christmas Walk takes over downtown on Friday, December 4, from 6 to 9:30 p.m., and the centerpiece is the first lighting of the Great Tree on the Kane County Courthouse lawn. Much of the season around that night runs on reservations. Santa visits at 10 S. Third St. require one. So do the Gingerbread Barn Raising at Peck Farm Park and the Holiday House Tour, and one Chamber event is already sold out.
The House Tour has been on sale since mid-October, and Santa visits go on sale in early November. The Park District has its registration links posted now.
Two events this week, and one is already full
The Cocoa & Chocolate Crawl runs Saturday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are already sold out, according to the Geneva Chamber of Commerce event page.
On Thursday, November 5, The Little Traveler at 404 S. Third St. hosts the Jolly Jingle Mix & Mingle Girls Night Out from 5 to 8 p.m. The $20 ticket gets you after-hours shopping specials, a glass of wine, snacks, and demonstrations of things like bow making and gift wrapping as you move from room to room. Registration runs through The Little Traveler's event page.
Neither event is part of the Christmas Walk, and both happen before the downtown lights are on.
What has to be reserved, and when it happens
The Chamber's Christmas Walk page says Santa visits go on sale in early November, which is right about now. The other reserved and ticketed events are spread across the next six weeks:
| Event | Date | Where | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa's Winter Wonderland visits | Dec. 4 from 6:40 p.m.; Dec. 5, 6, 12, 13 and 19, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. | Santa's house, 10 S. Third St. | Reservation required through the Chamber |
| Holiday House Tour, five homes | Dec. 4, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Dec. 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Self-guided, around Geneva | Tickets through the Chamber |
| Gingerbread Barn Raising | Sunday, Dec. 6, 4 to 6 p.m. | Orientation Barn, Peck Farm Park | Registration required; $72 resident, $92 nonresident, per group of up to six |
| Lights & Flights Craft Beer Festival | Saturday, Dec. 12; VIP 3 to 7 p.m., general admission 4 to 7 p.m. | Peck Farm Park | Ages 21+; $55, $70 VIP, $15 designated driver |
| Winter Wonder Lights tree decorating | Trees available from Nov. 20 | Peck Farm Park | Organizations register; $50 |
Santa's schedule covers the most dates. His Friday-night visits begin at 6:40 p.m., right after he's escorted from the tree lighting to his house on Third Street, and they run until 9:30. The visits are sponsored by McNally's Heating & Cooling.
The House Tour's five homes are open the same Friday as the Walk, starting at 10 a.m., which lets you see the houses in daylight and stay downtown for the evening. Patch covered the 2026 tour in mid-October when tickets went on sale.
Peck Farm lights up a week before Third Street
The free part of the season also starts earlier than the Walk. Winter Wonder Lights at Peck Farm Park, 4038 Kaneville Road, is lit every night from November 28 through January 1, from 5 to 10 p.m. You don't need to register or pay to walk the paths. The kickoff on Saturday, November 28, runs 5 to 7 p.m. The courtyard lights come on at exactly 5, and there's hot cocoa and s'mores by the fire pit, letters to Santa, and holiday music, all free. Details are on the Geneva Park District's Winter Wonder Lights page.
The decorated trees along those paths come from local organizations, which can start decorating November 20.
Indoors, the Geneva History Museum at 113 S. Third St. opens its holiday displays November 17 and keeps them up through December 23. One is the Geneva Giving Trees, decorated by local charities. Visitors vote for a favorite by buying tickets, and the proceeds go to the charities. You can also vote online at the Geneva History Museum's site through January 1. The other is an 18th-century Neapolitan crèche with 46 figures, first displayed by the founder of The Little Traveler in the 1930s. The museum shows it from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Peck Farm paths are lit, free, a full week before the Great Tree comes on downtown.
Friday, December 4, in order
The Walk is tightly scheduled. Most of the early events happen in a short stretch between 4:30 p.m. and the tree lighting. Here's the order, using the Chamber's merchant events program:
- 4:30 p.m. The Geneva Public Library at 227 S. Seventh St. hosts a First Friday Holiday Walk Pre-Party until 5:30, with crafts, face painting and a drawing.
- 4:30 p.m. The 43rd annual Cookie Walk opens at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 102 S. Second St. A $20 box holds two to three dozen homemade cookies, and the boxes go until supplies run out. The church also serves cocoa at the Third Street gazebo next to the History Museum until 7:30.
- 5:30 p.m. Dancers from Midwest Dance Conservatory perform scenes from The Nutcracker in shop windows along State Street between Second and Third. The windows include INLURO, House of 423, Blinka Optical, Zazu Salons and Scout & Gem.
- 5:45 p.m. Bob's Candy Cane Parade leaves Graham's Fine Chocolates & Ice Cream at 302 S. Third St. The Geneva High School drum and flag line leads more than 100 bell ringers to the stage, where they give Mayor Burns the first candy cane of the season. Anyone can grab a bell and join.
- Shortly after 6 p.m. The tree and the holiday lights come on, sponsored by State Street Jewelers. Santa Lucia and her attendants walk through the crowd handing out Swedish pepparkakor cookies, and Santa arrives.
- 6 to 9 p.m. Graham's holds its 31st annual Candy Cane Pull, where candymakers pull peppermint by hand and give every cane away. State Street Jewelers at 230 W. State St. roasts chestnuts. At Harvey's Tales, 216 James St., an 8-ounce hot chocolate costs $2, cash only, with all proceeds going to Anderson Humane.
- 6:30 p.m. Carols in the Chapel starts at St. Mark's Church, 320 Franklin St., with the entrance facing Fourth Street. Across Third Street, confirmation students at Geneva Lutheran Church perform a live nativity at 6:30, 7, 7:30 and 8.
The Little Traveler stays open until 9 p.m. Friday and serves free cookies, cocoa and hot cider in its Atrium Cafe from 6. If you want a cookie box, plan to get to Second Street early. Most of the other events last all evening.
The weekend after the tree is lit
Saturday, December 5, starts early. The Geneva Lions Club hosts a Pancake Breakfast with Santa at Geneva High School, 416 McKinley Ave., from 7:30 to 11 a.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for ages 4 to 12, and free for children under 3, available at genevalionsclub.org. After breakfast, these events run across the weekend:
- Preservation's Christkindlmarket at 513 S. Third St. runs 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with local artisans, lunch, warm drinks and live music.
- Horse-drawn carriage rides, sponsored by Elements Massage, are free and run 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through December 20. They start and end at South Third and James streets.
- Geneva Girl Scout troops perform on the Courthouse lawn Saturday morning.
- The Friends of Geneva Library Book Sale runs Friday through Sunday at 227 S. Seventh St., with a half-price sale on Sunday.
- St. Mark's Players stage Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol at 6 p.m. Saturday at St. Mark's Church, free and open to the public.
On Sunday, December 6, families with a Gingerbread Barn Raising registration head to the Orientation Barn at Peck Farm from 4 to 6 p.m., and the lights come on at 5.
December 12 is the newest date on the calendar
The Geneva Park District calls Lights & Flights its very first craft beer festival. It takes place Saturday, December 12, at Peck Farm Park, among the same lit paths that will have been on for two weeks by then. Each ticket includes 15 sample pours and a commemorative glass, and VIP ticket holders get in an hour early. Santa is also at his Third Street house that weekend, on Saturday the 12th and Sunday the 13th, and again on Saturday the 19th, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day.
Santa, the House Tour, the Gingerbread Barn and the beer festival all need a reservation or ticket. The Peck Farm paths, the Candy Cane Pull and the carriage rides are free.
If you're putting together a December in Geneva and want help thinking through the town beyond the Third Street lights, Joe Soto knows these Fox Valley weekends well and is happy to talk anytime. Let's Get Started.
