Lights of the Ozarks returns to the Historic Downtown Square on Friday, Nov. 20, for its 33rd season. It runs nightly from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. through Jan. 1, 2027, and it costs nothing to see. The display also works differently depending on the night. Monday is a drive-through. Tuesday through Sunday are walking nights with food and restrooms. Fridays, Saturdays and one Sunday carry the scheduled events.
The drive-through show at the Washington County Fairgrounds sorts itself by night of the week too, and outside Christmas week the difference there is $10 a car. Plan the season around the calendar, not around a single "let's go see the lights" evening, and you get a better version of both shows.
Monday is the only night you can drive the Square
Experience Fayetteville's 2026 season guide says Monday nights are the best time to drive around the Square, because East Avenue is closed to traffic on every other night.
So Monday is the night for anyone who would rather see the lights from a warm car: grandparents, a toddler who fell asleep in the car seat, a quick loop on the way home from somewhere else. You give up a few things:
- No food trucks. The trucks set up on East Avenue every night except Monday.
- No public restrooms. The restrooms inside Fayetteville Town Center at 15 W. Mountain are open Tuesday through Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. and closed on Mondays.
- No scheduled programming. None of the season's Santa visits, movie nights, Light Night or the parade falls on a Monday.
A few things work any night, Monday included. Leashed pets are welcome, and waste bags hang at the southwest corner of the Square at Block and Mountain. The letters-to-Santa mailbox in front of the Visitors Center on Block Avenue is open 24/7 all season. Kids can mail a letter from the car window on a Monday loop.
Tuesday through Sunday, the Square becomes a walk
Once East Avenue closes to cars, the Square turns into a pedestrian loop. Food trucks line East Avenue, the Town Center restrooms are open until 10 p.m., and the whole display sits inside Fayetteville's Outdoor Refreshment Area. That means you can carry a drink from a participating downtown bar or restaurant through the lights within the marked public areas.
This is the bigger version of the display. It has more than 500,000 LED lights on 47 miles of strands, plus a 20-foot Christmas tree, according to the Fayetteville Flyer. The same report notes that USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards ranked it among the nation's 10 best public holiday light displays in 2020 and 2024, with runner-up finishes in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025.
Experience Fayetteville names four restaurants with a view of the display: Cheers at the OPO, Faymosa, Guisinger and Tiny Tim's Pizza. A short walk away are Hugo's, Big Box Karaoke, Vetro 1925, Taste of Thai, Calle Latin Cuisine, El Mezcal and Feed & Folly.
Two newer names are worth adding to the list. Kai opened Aug. 14 at 313 W. Dickson St. in the Shipley Bakery building. It replaced Wasabi and kept the same menu and staff, the Flyer reported. Casa Alejo's Fayetteville location is at 102 N. Block Ave. in the former Tables & Ale space. The Flyer lists birria, arrachera, pork carnitas and skillet nachos among its dishes. The restaurant comes from brothers Said and Lois Mayorga, who also run locations in downtown Springdale and downtown Rogers, according to the Flyer. Its Block Avenue address puts it on the street the parade turns up after it circles the Square.
The scheduled events cluster at the end of the week
The walking nights are where the season's programming lives, and most of it lands Thursday through Sunday. Here is the calendar from Experience Fayetteville and Downtown Fayetteville, organized by night:
| Date | Night | What's happening on or near the Square |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 20 | Friday | Light Night, 6 to 9 p.m., with the lighting ceremony at 6 |
| Dec. 1 | Tuesday | Leslie Odom, Jr.'s The Christmas Tour 2026, Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 3 | Thursday | Lights of the Ozarks Parade, 6:30 p.m. |
| Dec. 4, 11, 18 | Fridays | Visits with Santa on the Square, 6 to 8 p.m. |
| Dec. 5, 12, 19 | Saturdays | Holiday movie nights at 6 p.m.: "Frozen," "The Grinch," "The Polar Express" |
| Dec. 6 | Sunday | Holiday Haul Brunch Crawl, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. |
| Dec. 8 | Tuesday | Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol, Walton Arts Center, 7 p.m. |
| Dec. 12 | Saturday | White Elephant 5K and 1-Mile, starting and finishing on the Square |
The two Walton Arts Center shows fall on Tuesdays. Those are walking nights with trucks and restrooms but nothing scheduled on the Square, so a show at Baum Walker Hall pairs easily with a loop through the lights before or after. The Fridays and Saturdays stack the family events, so those are the nights with the most going on downtown.
Saturday, Dec. 12, carries two Square events. The White Elephant 5K and 1-Mile starts and finishes there, according to the city's Parks & Recreation newsletter, and the "The Grinch" movie night follows that evening.
Parade night ends in a different spot this year
The parade is Thursday, Dec. 3, at 6:30 p.m. Downtown Fayetteville lays out the 2026 route this way. It starts on East Street near the Graduate Hotel, travels around the Square, continues up Block Avenue and ends at Block Avenue and Spring Street. Snack and beverage vendors will set up on the north side of the Square from 5 to 9 p.m.
Last year's parade ended at Dickson Street, according to the City of Fayetteville's 2025 closure notice. If you watched the finish from the Dickson end in 2025, this year the parade ends at Spring Street, short of Dickson. That same 2025 notice closed the streets around the Square, meaning Mountain, East, Center and Block, starting at 3 p.m. on parade day. Check the city's road closure page in the days before Dec. 3 for this year's times.
Dec. 3 also brings Mariachi Herencia de México's A Mariachi Christmas to Baum Walker Hall at 7 p.m., with tickets listed at $10. The show starts half an hour after the parade, so choose one for the evening.
The fairgrounds show has its own weekday price
The other big light display in town runs on a similar weekly rhythm, and it shows up in the price. The Light Show NWA runs at the Washington County Fairgrounds on North McConnell Avenue from Nov. 20, 2026, through Jan. 2, 2027. It's a drive-through, which Experience Fayetteville describes as nearly one million lights, singing characters and a 300-foot tunnel of lights.
Admission is per vehicle, not per person, according to the 2026 ticket page:
| Ticket | 2026 price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single car, Monday through Thursday | $25 | Pick a 30-minute arrival window |
| Single car, Friday through Sunday | $35 | Same arrival windows |
| Single car, Christmas week | $35 | Applies regardless of weekday |
| 2026 Season Pass | $85 | Up to 10 visits, any day; the registered passholder must be in the vehicle each time and the pass can't be shared |
Hours are 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The ticket page says arrival windows help manage traffic but aren't guaranteed, especially on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and during peak hours, when extra waits may occur.
Outside Christmas week, a Monday-through-Thursday car saves $10 and comes on the nights the ticket page doesn't flag for waits. A season pass used all 10 times works out to $8.50 a visit. That's mainly useful for a household that plans to go back for every set of visiting relatives.
Putting the week together
Lights of the Ozarks and the fairgrounds show both open on Nov. 20. The downtown display runs through Jan. 1, and the fairgrounds runs one day longer, through Jan. 2. The two shows reward different nights, and their calendars fit together:
- Monday: Drive the Square at your own pace. With East Avenue open to cars, it's the low-effort outing for anyone who doesn't want to park and walk.
- Monday through Thursday, outside Christmas week: Drive through the fairgrounds show at the $25 rate. A Monday can cover both drives in one evening.
- Tuesday: Walk the Square with trucks and restrooms available, and add a Walton Arts Center show on Dec. 1 or Dec. 8.
- Thursday, Dec. 3: Parade night, with the new finish at Block and Spring.
- Friday and Saturday: Santa visits and movie nights on the Square. Build dinner around one of the restaurants that look out on the display.
- Sunday, Dec. 6: The Holiday Haul Brunch Crawl from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. turns the downtown restaurants into the event.
Experience Fayetteville suggests doing both attractions in one evening or splitting them across a weekend. On a Monday outside Christmas week, the fairgrounds car costs $25 instead of $35 and falls outside the nights the ticket page flags for waits, and the Square is open to drive.
Every holiday season, Jillian walks clients through the same kind of planning these lights take: which night, which street and which detail changes the plan. If a December loop around the Square has you wondering what your own Fayetteville home would bring this winter, Jillian Chamberlin can put together your free home valuation, or you can schedule a free consultation and talk it through in person.
