A Lawrence Christmas Is Back on Its Usual Saturday, and Winterfest Gets Its First Weekend Back

A Lawrence Christmas returns to Lawrence Civic Plaza, 5710 Lawrence Village Parkway, on Saturday, November 28, the day after Black Friday. The city has set it for 2 to 6 p.m. and billed it as the A Lawrence Christmas 2026 Tree Lighting, Parade and Variety Show. The tree lighting draws the crowd. Winterfest is the longer event, though. Skating at Civic Plaza is listed for every Saturday and Sunday from November 28 through January 3, 3 to 7 p.m. That's six weekends and twelve afternoons, and the first one is kickoff day.

Winterfest runs on weekends only, four hours a day. For the rest of the week the plaza sits quiet. Since the kickoff and the skating season start on the same Saturday, whatever happens to one happens to the other. Last year showed how that works.

How one snow forecast reshaped last year's opening weekend

The 2025 season was set to open the same way, with the celebration on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and skating starting that weekend. Then the forecast changed.

1. November 28, 2025. With a winter storm watch in effect for central Indiana and significant snowfall forecast, the city postponed A Lawrence Christmas. It said it was looking at rescheduling for the following weekend.
2. The same announcement dropped Sunday skating too.
3. December 6, 2025. The celebration went ahead a week late, with the parade, variety show and tree lighting all on the new date.
4. December 9, 2025. The city thanked everyone who came to the tree lighting and said Winterfest would continue every Saturday and Sunday through January 4.

The city's November 28 notice put it in one line:

"In addition, Winterfest skating on Sunday will be canceled due to the projected conditions."

The opening weekend of the 2025 season lost its kickoff to the following Saturday and lost its Sunday skating outright. This year the calendar is back to the original plan. As of now, the 2026 kickoff falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and the full run of weekends follows it.

The weather rule hasn't changed. The city's event page calls A Lawrence Christmas a rain-or-shine event, and only extreme or dangerous weather leads to cancellation. Snow on its own won't cancel anything. A storm watch like last year's could.

Kickoff day runs on a shorter clock this year

Here is how the 2025 kickoff ran once it finally happened, according to the city's December 5, 2025 announcement:

• 3 to 7 p.m.: ice skating, food trucks and vendors
• 5:30 p.m.: Christmas parade
• 6 p.m.: variety show
• 6:50 p.m.: tree lighting ceremony

The 2026 window runs from 2 to 6 p.m. Last year's program had the tree lit at 6:50, after the parade and the show, so this year's run of show can't follow that clock exactly. The Visit Lawrence event page has sections for the skating rink, food trucks, parade, variety show and tree lighting. It will post the final times, and it's the page to check before you leave the house that Saturday.

These details are already set:

• The event is free to the public.
• No pets are allowed because of the expected crowd size, so leave the dog home on kickoff day.
• Questions go to the city's events team at [email protected].

The city took applications from vendors, performers and parade participants this fall. Who shows up on November 28 depends on who signed up.

The rink's money stays in Lawrence

Most of Winterfest's value sits in the eleven afternoons after the parade, and the way the rink is run explains why. Last season, proceeds from skate rentals and the Hot Chocolate Chalet went straight to the local nonprofits volunteering at Winterfest. The chalet's operator changed from day to day, so the group pouring hot chocolate on any given Sunday was the group the money went to.

In 2025, skating cost $7 for children 12 and under and $10 for adults, with unlimited skating until closing each day. The Winterfest page is where 2026 rink hours and details will go. Unlimited skating makes a long afternoon a good deal. With a 3 p.m. open and a 7 p.m. close, you can skate in daylight and stay for dusk under the lights.

The calendar shapes the season, too. The fifth and sixth weekends, December 26 and 27 and January 2 and 3, come after Christmas, when school is out and out-of-town family is often still around. They're the only free weekend afternoons on the plaza before the rink closes for the year. The kickoff weekend pulls the crowd. If you're bringing visitors, a quieter afternoon may be easier.

The plaza itself has changed

If you haven't spent much time at Civic Plaza lately, it looks different. Hoodline reported that a $1.5 million renovation in 2022 added decorative concrete, public seating, a pergola walkway and a 34-foot wind tree that generates electricity for the plaza's outlets. The plaza stands on the former Fort Benjamin Harrison, an active U.S. Army post from 1903 until it was decommissioned in 1995.

The blocks around it have been changing as well. Across Lawrence Village Parkway, The Benjamin at 5611 Lawrence Village Parkway is a five-story mixed-use building with more than 200 apartments and ground-floor space planned for shops and restaurants. Hoodline put the project at an estimated $78 million to $80 million, with construction starting in October 2023. It will frame the kickoff crowd this year whether or not its storefronts are lit.

The Corner at Fort Ben has also lined up its first tenants. Post 23 is an upscale Italian-American restaurant from local restaurateur Gino Pizzi, inspired by the history of Fort Benjamin Harrison. Tailwind Cafe is an aviation-themed coffee and ice cream shop owned by a Lawrence North graduate with deep ties to the community. Comfort Option is the third tenant. The development describes itself as a community-based dining and retail spot serving the growing Village at Fort Ben.

Where to eat before or after skating

For a meal before skating or a warm-up after, the Fort Ben area has a cluster of places close to the plaza:

• Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza, 9165 Otis Ave.
• Cafe Audrey at Fort Ben, 9134 Otis Ave.
• Fort Ben Pub, 5645 N. Post Rd.
• La Hacienda, 5625 Lawton Loop E. Dr.
• Starbucks, 9055 E. 56th St. The city held a ribbon cutting and community day when it opened in March 2026.

Two of these are on Otis Avenue, so a pizza or brunch stop and an afternoon on the ice fit in the same short loop. Winterfest wraps at 7 p.m., which leaves time for dinner on a weekend night. During the week, you can see how the plaza fits into the rest of the Fort Ben campus in our look at what fills the cultural campus after the farmers market closes. For more about the city around it, see our Lawrence neighborhood guide and our list of hidden gems in Lawrence.

Fort Ben has six weekends of skating ahead, and we'd love to hear which one you pick. If you're also thinking about a home within walking distance of Civic Plaza, or wondering what the new Fort Ben development means for your own street, the team at Fishburn Realty Group is happy to talk it over with you.