On Saturday, Nov. 14, Palmyra's holiday season starts by covering as much of the borough as one morning allows. The parade leaves Palmyra Middle School and loops along Cherry, Green, Main and Locust streets before it returns to where it started.
Five weeks later it ends on a single block. On Saturday, Dec. 19, the borough closes South Railroad Street between Main and Cherry so the Palmyra Area Lions Club can hold Reindeer Night at the Town Square. The event draws roughly 800 people each year. Everything between those two Saturdays happens on that same small square. If you live in Palmyra, the season is really a calendar for one corner of downtown.
| Date | Day | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 14 | Saturday | Palmyra Holiday Parade, 11 a.m. | Loop from Palmyra Middle School |
| Nov. 27 | Friday | Santa's House opens | Town Square |
| Dec. 5 | Saturday | Holiday Tree Lighting | Town Square |
| Dec. 19 | Saturday | Reindeer Night | Town Square, South Railroad Street closed 4 to 9 p.m. |
Palmyra Borough Council approved the Lions Club's square schedule unanimously at its Sept. 22 meeting. The same vote also covered Trick-or-Treat at the Square, which took place Oct. 29. All of the dates above are set for 2026.
Nov. 14: The Parade Covers the Most Ground
The parade is the only event this season that leaves downtown, so it's the one that affects the most driveways. According to the Lebanon Federal Credit Union's event listing, the parade steps off at 11 a.m. and road closures start around 9:30 a.m.
The route runs in this order:
- Start at Palmyra Middle School
- East on Cherry Street
- North on Green Street
- West on Main Street
- South on Locust Street
- Back to the middle school
If you live along any of those streets, plan to move your car before 9:30 or plan to stay put until the parade is over. Main Street between Green and Locust is the stretch where the route passes closest to the Square.
The parade is organized in part by the Palmyra VFW and the Rotary Club, and the listing invites local businesses, groups and individuals to take part. The VFW is Palmyra Memorial Post 6417. The credit union's listing also tells spectators to stick around after the parade for holiday music and carolers in the square.
Then the Season Moves Onto One Block
After the parade, the rest of the calendar happens in one place. The Town Square sits along South Railroad Street between Main and Cherry. That's the block council agreed to close for Reindeer Night, and it's a short walk from the Palmyra Borough municipal building at 325 S. Railroad St., where council meets.
The Palmyra Area Lions Club runs the square events. Lions Club spokesman Frank Pulli presented the 2026 schedule to council in September. The club's projects page lists Santa House on the Square and its Christmas tree lighting among its regular projects.
So the parade belongs to several organizations and many streets, and the three events after it belong to one club and one block. Each event in this stretch also gets bigger than the one before it.
Nov. 27: Santa's House Sets the Weekly Rhythm
Santa's House opens Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving. In past years, Santa's House has been open over several weekends rather than on one night.
The 2024 season shows how that worked. TownLively reported that Santa saw visitors at his house in the square on Fridays and Saturdays from 5 to 8 p.m., from Nov. 29 through Dec. 21 that year. Mrs. Claus was expected too, "unless she is attending to tasks at the North Pole." No photographer was on site, and families were encouraged to bring their phones.
That 2024 schedule ran from the Friday after Thanksgiving to the Saturday of Reindeer Night. In 2026, Santa's House again opens on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Reindeer Night again falls on the last Saturday before Christmas week. In 2024, Santa visits on the Square happened on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Dec. 5: The Tree Lighting Brings the Square Its First Big Night
The Holiday Tree Lighting is Saturday, Dec. 5, eight days after Santa's House opens.
In 2024 the lighting took place on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. The program opened with caroling, followed by remarks from the commander of the American Legion in Palmyra, and Santa and Mrs. Claus greeted children. A Saturday evening start, carols and Santa in his house nearby made it a natural pairing with the weekend Santa hours.
The tree lighting doesn't need a street closure. Only the last event does.
Dec. 19: The Night South Railroad Street Closes
Reindeer Night is the season's largest gathering on its smallest footprint. On Oct. 27, Palmyra Borough Council voted unanimously to close South Railroad Street between Main and Cherry streets on Saturday, Dec. 19, from 4 to 9 p.m., for the Lions Club event, LebTown reported. In September, LebTown put the event's yearly draw at roughly 800 people.
The closure window is wider than the event itself. LebTown's 2024 coverage listed Reindeer Night that year from 6 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 21. The extra hours on each side give organizers time to set up and clear out. If you usually cut through on South Railroad, find another way from late afternoon on.
TownLively's account of the 2024 event shows what the crowd came for:
- Santa brought one of his reindeer in training, and people could pet it and take photos
- Santa and Mrs. Claus were there
- The Hershey Ghostbusters and the Lebanon County dairy princess came
- Smokey Bear and Texas Roadhouse's Andy Armadillo posed for photos
- Food trucks lined up, including a Philadelphia cheesesteak truck selling cheesesteaks and chicken, the Auntie Anne's pretzels truck and the Noel's drink truck with hot and cold drinks
That year the Lions Club also asked businesses to help sponsor the reindeer visit and listed 717-813-2196 as the number to call. If you run a business near the Square and want your name connected to the season's biggest night, that's the contact the club has used before.
The Weeks Between Square Nights
Between those Saturdays, a lot of Palmyra-area families spend weekday evenings and weekends at practices and tournaments. One project aims to give the parents somewhere to wait. LebTown reported that 318 Clubhouse, a pub restaurant with golf simulators, is coming to Flightpath Sports Park in South Londonderry Township at 318 Taxiway Drive, Annville. It's a partnership between builder HR Weaver and Duncannon-based Lindgren Craft Brewery, and its stated goal is to open by the holidays.
HR Weaver business manager Kristen Blouch told LebTown the space is meant for "the local people here for practices, dropping their kids off for an hour lesson or a one or two hour baseball practice." General manager Brian Johnson, who previously worked at Texas Roadhouse in Palmyra, described a scratch kitchen with a "very Americana" menu. The plans include four Foresight Sports simulators with 30- and 60-minute reservations.
Watch the parade from Main Street on Nov. 14, visit Santa's House once it opens Nov. 27, see the tree lit on Dec. 5, and plan to walk to Railroad Street on Dec. 19, because the street will be closed to cars from 4 p.m.
At Team Becker Realtors, we live and work in the Palmyra and Hershey corridor, and this calendar is part of our season too. If you're thinking about what your Palmyra home might be worth before the new year, reach out and we'll talk it through with you between parade day and Reindeer Night. Get Your Home's Value.
