The Christmas season kicks off in Niles with the annual Festival of Lights Parade on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Bring your blankets and chairs and get ready for twinkling fun!
Sponsored by the members of the Niles community and the Fremont community at large, this wonderful holiday tradition features over 60 unique floats and other entries, marching bands, specialty service units, costumed characters and of course, an appearance by the man himself - Santa Claus! The tree lighting ceremony begins at 6pm. The parade starts at 6:30pm. Please see below image for map of the parade route.
Seating and Standing Rules per Niles
All sidewalks are to remain open to the general public.
Chairs cannot be placed before 12 noon on Friday the day of the parade. Any unoccupied chair placed along the parade route before 12 noon is subject to removal. Parade organizers are not responsible for lost chairs.
Seating can be reserved with chairs/blankets beginning at 12 noon on Friday. Seating/blankets can only be placed along the curb and may not exceed one row. Sidewalks must remain accessible to pedestrians and people with disabilities.
Reserved seating is at your own risk. The police department will not take reports for lost or stolen chairs.
Seating on public sidewalks may not be reserved and then sold to members of the public. All seating must remain free and available to the general public.
NEW: At 4 PM when Niles Blvd. officially closes, City Maintenance will cordon off three sections of parking stalls along the commercial side (east side) of Niles Blvd. between H Street and J Street. After 4 PM, community members can use the designated parking spaces for cushions and blanket seating. No chairs will be allowed in this area. The goal of this trial seating arrangement is to alleviate the impact of people standing and sitting on the sidewalks and to allow for wheelchairs to freely access the sidewalks. Delineators and tape will be placed along the roadway as a barricade between the seating and parade participants. This is a one-year trial and we ask that no one touch or move the barricades.
