Temple's Holiday Season Peaks From December 4 to 7, Then Moves to the Ice

Friday, December 4 is the busiest day on Temple's 2026 Holly Jolly calendar. Holiday lights voting opens that morning, and three separate events fill the evening between Temple Public Library and the 100 block of East Central Avenue. Over the next three days you also get Santa at the Depot on Saturday and the 80th Annual Christmas Parade on Monday night.

Once the parade ends, most of the season shifts to one place. Rink on the Rails opens at MLK Festival Grounds on December 11 and runs through January 3. Plan around those two stretches and the rest of the calendar is easy to fit in.

One Morning Start and Three Evening Events on Friday, December 4

Here is the day, in order:

Jingle Jam is a free, family-focused downtown event with food trucks, artisan vendors and kids' activities. Its event listing puts the music at Arcadia Theatre, with Texas country artist Holly Tucker playing from 7 to 9 p.m. The library event finishes just before downtown fills up, so a family can go to Light Up for Literacy, walk a few blocks east and catch the first student performers.

Lights voting is a separate thing. The City of Temple's Merry & Bright contest releases an interactive map of entered homes after applications close, and community voting runs December 4 through 14. If you drive to Jingle Jam that evening, you can check the map and plan a route home past the entries.

The Kringle Krawl Has No Starting Line

The Krawl is the part of that Friday with the most named stops. It's free, starts at 5 p.m., and works on a passport. You pick up a passport at any participating business and start wherever you like, since there's no set starting point. Each stop offers some mix of holiday snacks, seasonal drinks, small surprises and shop discounts.

The First Friday page splits the stops into two lists, "Nice" and "Naughty," so you pick your route by list:

• Nice List stops include Treno Pizzeria and Taproom, Westphilla Market Butcher Baker, Village Grounds Café & Play, Temple Children's Museum, Parlour Antiques & Oddities, Main St Design & Consign, Darling Décor & More, La Dalat, Cattleman's Downtown, S' Sweet Berry, The Art Dept, The Wreck Center, Sloane Bridal and Arcadia & Hawn Plaza. Temple PD is also on the list.
• Naughty List stops include 17 South Main, Green Door, Pignettis, Parlour Lounge, Las Marias Traditional Mexican Cuisine, Namis Japanese Steak & Sushi, Villa Golf Lounge and Neighbors on 7th.
• On both lists: O'Briens Irish Pub and Bird Creek Brewing.

With the Children's Museum and Village Grounds on the Nice list, a family can do the Krawl too. Because Arcadia & Hawn Plaza is a Nice stop, you can end a Krawl route right where Holly Tucker takes the stage.

Saturday at the Depot, Monday Night on Adams Avenue

The next morning moves a few blocks west. Santa at the Depot runs Saturday, December 5, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum, 315 W. Avenue B. The museum lists the 2026 event as free. With a five-hour window, you can go mid-morning or after lunch and skip the Friday-night crowd.

The parade is on a Monday this year: December 7 at 6:30 p.m. It's the 80th Annual Christmas Parade, so the theme is "An 80s Christmas." The parade guide Discover Temple published November 4 lays out the logistics:

1. Route: It starts at East Adams Avenue and North 8th Street, heads west on Adams to North 23rd Street, then turns north to Temple High School. The full route is about 1.4 miles.
2. Viewing: You can watch from anywhere along the street.
3. Parking: Free and first-come, on the street, at City Hall, in downtown lots including Santa Fe Plaza, and in two nearby garages.
4. Pets: Parade rules don't allow pets, for safety reasons.

On a 1.4-mile route there's room to spread out. People who want a quick drive home can watch from the west end near 23rd Street. People who want to stay downtown for dinner can stay close to 8th Street.

After the Parade, the Season Moves to MLK Festival Grounds

Four days after the parade, Temple's ice rink opens for its second season. Rink on the Rails opened on December 12, 2025, and KWTX covered it as a new experience for the area. The Temple Daily Telegram reported that the city called it Temple's "very first ice rink."

The 2026 to 2027 season runs December 11 through January 3. The ice is real and the rink is outdoors. Admission is $12 per skater with skates included, and skate aids cost $5. Skaters must be 4 or older, sessions are first-come, first-served, and free parking is nearby.

The rink's hours follow the Temple ISD calendar, with different schedules for school days and holiday breaks. It's open regular hours on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Those four days are often hard to fill in a town where most things close, so an outdoor rink that stays open is especially useful then. The individual theme-night listings already post times, such as noon to 8:30 p.m. for Mean Green Mondays and noon to 10:30 p.m. for Winter White on New Year's Day.

Each night has a theme, and a few repeat every week:

• Mean Green Mondays: December 14, 21 and 28
• Two for Twenty Tuesdays: two tickets for $20 on December 15, 22 and 29
• Family Fun Night: Wednesdays, December 16, 23 and 30, with board games and family activities around the rink
• One-night themes: Ugly Sweaters Skate on December 17, Cozies & Cocoa in Christmas pajamas on December 18, Santa's Last Stop on December 25, Sparkle & Skate on New Year's Eve, and Winter White on January 1 with a wall for writing 2027 resolutions

At $12 a skater, Two for Twenty Tuesdays saves $4 for every pair. Over three Tuesdays, that's the best deal on the rink calendar.

The Weekend the Rink Opens, the Stages Fill Up

Opening weekend at the rink lines up with the season's indoor performances. The Cultural Activities Center stages The Nutcracker Ballet on Friday, December 11 at 7 p.m., Saturday, December 12 at 12:30 and 7 p.m., and Sunday, December 13 at 2 p.m. If you see the Saturday matinee, you can still make an evening skate.

The next weekend is just as full. The CAC has A Monster Carol on December 18 at 7:30 p.m. and December 19 at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. The Central Texas Film Society shows White Christmas there on Sunday, December 20 at 2 p.m. The Temple Daily Telegram's season preview lists the Temple Symphony Orchestra's "Sounds of the Season" for December 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Temple College's Mary Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center. December 19 is also the rink's "Experience the Magic" night, with an Ice Queen and her sister on the ice.

Three Dates Before the Busiest Week

A few things come before December 4, and one of them has a deadline:

1. Saturday, November 21, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: The Santa Fe Community Market holds a holiday-gift Merry Market at 33 E. Avenue C, in the old Temple Feed and Supply building.
2. Saturday, November 28, 2 to 8 p.m.: Christmas at the Plaza takes over Santa Fe Plaza at 301 W. Avenue A. The program lists S'mores Land, a live reindeer exhibit, a Kid Zone, photo spots and a holiday market of local vendors, and the tree lighting is at 7:30 p.m. Last year, the Temple Daily Telegram described carriage rides, a snow machine and a campfire for roasting marshmallows.
3. Wednesday, December 2, 5 p.m.: Merry & Bright applications close. Entry is free and open to Temple residents 18 and older. Only exterior decorations are judged, and that includes window displays you can see from outside.

If you want lights farther afield, Nature in Lights runs nightly at BLORA, 7999 Sparta Road in Belton, from November 20 through January 3, 5:30 to 11 p.m.

If you're putting your house on the Merry & Bright map this year and want to know what it's worth, Ten42 Realty can tell you, with a valuation based on local sales and no pressure to do anything with it. Request your free home valuation, then go claim a spot on Adams Avenue for December 7.