"One single celebration on July 4 was completely inadequate to wholly represent how Lewes should celebrate the wonders of our community and its history." Mary Alice "Mak" Kelly said that about Lewes's 2026 celebrations, in the Lewes Chamber of Commerce's announcement of this year's Christmas Parade.
Kelly chairs the Lewes 250 Committee. On Saturday, Dec. 5, she rides as honorary grand marshal of the 94th Lewes Christmas Parade. The town's 250th year started from the idea that no single day could hold it, and its last weeks run the same way. They fold into the December traditions Lewes already had, mostly on Second Street and Shipcarpenter Street, starting with one long weekend.
The parade honors the people who planned the year
The Chamber's release says the grand marshal choice also recognizes the whole Lewes 250 organizing committee. That group started meeting in the winter of 2025 with community groups, businesses, individuals and the Greater Lewes Foundation. Their goal was a full year of 2026 activities to celebrate and share the full legacy of the American Revolution. Kelly put the aim plainly in the same release: "We know how important it was to represent ALL who helped shape Lewes over the past 250 years."
The Chamber's 2026 schedule shows how widely that year was spread out:
- April 11: the 1st Lewes 250 Celebration 5K
- July 4: an Old Fashioned Fourth of July with children's activities, a boat parade, the Doo Dah Parade and fireworks
- Aug. 15 and 16: Under Enemy Guns
- Oct. 17 and 18: Harvest Festival 1776
The Christmas parade has its own theme this year, "Celebrating an Old-Fashioned Christmas in Lewes." Most of the year's events were built around history, so a grand marshal from the 250th committee fits a parade that is already 94 years old.
What's still on the Lewes 250 calendar before the parade
The Lewes 250 events calendar still has entries between now and Dec. 5. Most of them are hosted by Historic Lewes and run on its regular schedule, which is how this year has worked all along.
- Thursday, Nov. 12, 5 to 6 p.m.: Historic Lewes Speaker Series at the Lewes History Museum, 101 Adams Ave. That's tonight for anyone reading on publish day.
- Saturdays, Nov. 14, 21 and 28, 9 a.m. to noon: Historic Lewes Farmers Market fall markets in the Lewes Elementary School parking lot, 820 Savannah Road. They're free.
- Friday, Nov. 20, 5 to 6 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 21, 10 to 11 a.m.: "Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: A Fireside Chat" at the Officer's Club in Cape Henlopen State Park, on Queens Road. Living historians from Zwaanendael and Fort Miles lead it. It's free with the park entrance fee, and organizers ask that you register ahead.
- Friday, Nov. 20, 5 to 8 p.m.: Shanty Night with Historic Lewes at 110 Shipcarpenter St. Admission is free, and drinks are extra.
- Saturday, Nov. 21, 2 to 3 p.m.: Coastal Concerts presents Ji Su Jung and Timothy Chooi at Bethel Fellowship Hall, 129 W. 4th St. Tickets are sold through Coastal Concerts.
Friday, Nov. 20 is also the deadline to register a parade entry. Registration goes through the Chamber at 302-645-8073. Prizes cover marching groups, bands, clowns, equestrian units, fire companies, three kinds of floats and two kinds of decorated vehicles. To count as a Decorated Classic Car, the car has to be a 1967 or older.
Thursday through Saturday, the weekend closes in on Second Street
The Chamber calls the parade "the culmination" of the Christmas Weekend in Historic Lewes, and the schedule really does build toward it over three days.
Thursday, Dec. 3. The Lewes Merchants' 39th annual Hospitality Night runs from 5 to 8 p.m. in the historic commercial district. Second Street closes to cars from 3 to 8 p.m. that afternoon and evening. Santa makes a short visit to his Lewes house at the corner of Second and Bank streets.
Friday, Dec. 4. The weekend moves to the Historic Lewes Town Campus at 110 Shipcarpenter St. The free First Friday Community Night runs there from 4 to 7 p.m. The Chamber's 2026 calendar also lists the Historic Lewes Holiday Market at the campus that day.
Saturday, Dec. 5. Nearly everything happens on this one day:
| Time | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 9 a.m. to noon | Historic Lewes Farmers Market, final listed fall date | Lewes Elementary School lot, 820 Savannah Road |
| 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Chamber visitor center open | Lewes Chamber of Commerce |
| 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. | 53rd Annual Holiday House Tour | Eight private homes, plus the Holiday Village & Market at 110 Shipcarpenter St. |
| 5 p.m. | 94th Lewes Christmas Parade | Starts at Savannah Road and Sussex Drive |
| After the last entry | Tree lighting and candlelight caroling | Zwaanendael Park |
House tour tickets are $50 online through Dec. 4, or you can buy them at the Historic Lewes office. Children 12 and younger get in free with a paying adult. Each ticket includes one admission to every home on the tour, a keepsake guidebook describing each property, and entry to the Holiday Village & Market. The village has local artisans and businesses, interpreters, carolers and music. The tour closes at 4 p.m., which leaves an hour before the parade steps off.
Where the parade goes, and where it stops
The Chamber's event listing gives the route. The parade starts at 5 p.m. at Savannah Road and Sussex Drive, follows Savannah Road, turns left onto Second Street and continues to Market Street. If weather calls it off, the rain or snow date is Sunday, Dec. 6, at the same time.
Jim Smith of the Lewes Chamber Board of Directors and Mike DiPaolo of the Delaware Community Foundation return as co-announcers. The judges' reviewing stand is in Zwaanendael Park, and that's also where the evening wraps up. Once the last entry passes the stand, Mayor Amy Marasco lights the Christmas tree in the park. Christy Taylor and some of her music students then lead candlelight caroling.
The tree lighting begins whenever the parade finishes, so it has no fixed start time. Mayor Marasco also sits on the Lewes 250 organizing committee. That means two people from the group that planned the 250th year will be at the center of the evening, one riding in front of the parade and one lighting the tree at the end.
After the parade, December spreads out to the canal
The same night, the light tour gets going. Lewes Lights is a free community holiday light tour where homeowners and businesses decorate across the city. It lists nightly hours of 5 to 9 p.m. from Dec. 5 through Dec. 31. The tour map covers the city plus the Savannah Road and Kings Highway gateways. New Road isn't on it.
The Lewes 250 calendar keeps going for two more weeks after the parade, at the same addresses:
- Thursday, Dec. 10, 5 to 6 p.m.: Historic Lewes Speaker Series at the Lewes History Museum, 101 Adams Ave.
- Friday, Dec. 18, 5 to 8 p.m.: Shanty Night with Historic Lewes at 110 Shipcarpenter St. It's free, with drinks extra.
Shanty Night is the last 2026 entry on the Lewes 250 calendar. The next listing is a concert on Jan. 23, 2027.
Three days later, the Lewes Public Arts Committee and the City of Lewes host a Winter Solstice Lantern Festival from Dec. 19 to 21. Lantern-making workshops run at the Rollins Center, 101 Adams Ave., on Saturday, Dec. 19 and Sunday, Dec. 20. Each day has two sessions, 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Workshops cost $10 per student, scholarships are available, and registration goes through the City of Lewes. The free Lantern Parade starts at 5 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 21, the solstice, at Canalfront Park, 211 Front St. You can make a lantern at a workshop or bring your own.
The festival starts in the same building as the Speaker Series, since 101 Adams Ave. is listed both as the Rollins Center and as the Lewes History Museum. The parade ends at the canal, a few blocks from where Hospitality Night started on Second Street 18 days earlier. If you've followed the town calendar since August, when the ferry terminal and the Shipcarpenter Street campus anchored the weekends, December is laid out much the same way. It just has more lights on.
If the Dec. 5 schedule is on your fridge and you'd like to talk about Lewes over a cup of something warm, before or after the parade, I'd love to hear from you. You can find more about the town on my Lewes neighborhood page. When you're ready, Denise Karas is always glad to connect. Let's Connect.
