At 5 a.m. on a December weekday, the weeping willow at 12500 S 1300 E is already lit. It carries more than 1,000 strands of white lights, and it is the center of a display Draper City has run at Draper City Park since 2008. The city's current schedule turns the lights on from 5:00 to 8:00 every morning and from 5:00 to 10:00 every night, through January 1.
This year the park's holiday calendar has two parts: three city events within eight days, and a 33-day light display that includes a morning window. The events start a day earlier than they did last year.
The season opens on a Monday in November
Draper City's Tree Lighting Ceremony is set for Monday, November 30, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Draper Park. That is the Monday after Thanksgiving. Last year's ceremony fell on December 1, according to ABC4's report on the 2025 season. A one-day shift sounds minor. It does put the opening night in the same week as Thanksgiving travel and leftovers, so any family hosting out-of-town guests that week can now fit the lighting into the visit.
The city's published schedule for the night:
- 6:00 p.m. Ceremony at the main stage, with Santa and special guests switching on the lights just after 6
- 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Santa at the Day Barn
- 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Hot chocolate and cookies, pony rides, and marshmallow roasting
Everything is free. The ceremony goes ahead in snow, rain, or shine. The city may still cancel or postpone it for severe weather, and it posts updates on the event page and at (801) 576-6584. Anyone who needs a disability accommodation should ask at least five days ahead. For this event, that means by Wednesday, November 25, the day before Thanksgiving.
Eight days, one park, three events
All of the city's public holiday programming happens between November 30 and December 7. In order:
- Tree Lighting Ceremony. Monday, November 30, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Draper Park.
- Holiday Market. Friday, December 4, 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday, December 5, noon to 8:00 p.m., at the Day Barn.
- Candy Cane Hunt. Monday, December 7, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., Draper Park.
The Holiday Market's vendor list is already set. Applications for 2026 are closed with no waitlist, and the city turns away vendors whose products don't fit the event or who sell for multi-level marketing companies. In practice, that leaves a curated holiday market. Santa and Mrs. Claus are there for photos both days. The Saturday session runs eight hours, which makes it the easiest of the three events to fit around work and school.
The Candy Cane Hunt is free and open to children 6 and younger. The city scatters thousands of candy canes across the park, and the children start after a countdown at 4:00 p.m. A few specially marked canes can be traded for a holiday prize. The rules are specific: adults can't pick up or redeem a marked cane, each child can claim one prize, and the child has to present the ticket in person. Soon after the hunt starts, Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive on a fire truck. The hunt starts at 4:00 and the lights come on at 5:00, so families can stay for both.
After December 7, the city's event calendar for the park is empty. The lights stay on.
The other 25 days belong to the lights
From December 8 through January 1 there are no stages, no vendors, and no scheduled Santa visits. The display simply runs on its two daily windows. Across the season the lights are on for eight hours a day: five in the evening and three before sunrise. The Deseret News 2025 roundup of Utah light displays and ABC4 both reported the same 5 to 8 a.m. morning hours for the 2025 season.
For anyone living near 1300 East, the morning hours put the display on an ordinary schedule: a dog walk before work, a stop on the way to an early meeting, or a coffee in the car before school drop-off. The city says the display uses more than three million lights across the park's trees. The Deseret News has listed it among the state's holiday light destinations in both 2024 and 2025.
The willow is the centerpiece. The city calls it the Tree of Light, and ABC4 reported that some community members call it the "Tree of Life" because it resembles illustrations of the tree from Lehi's dream in the Book of Mormon. The same report describes the tree as a popular spot for marriage proposals and wedding photos, and says it hosts drum circles and candlelight vigils year-round. In 2025, Draper City marked the final days with a Facebook post that ABC4 quoted: "Spend some time with the ones you love in the glow of three million lights before they're turned off for the season."
The season ends on January 1. On New Year's Day morning, the 5 to 8 a.m. window is the last scheduled chance to see the display.
The barn where Santa sits is a century old
Both Santa's spot on lighting night and the Holiday Market's home are in the Day Barn. It is a white, shiplap-sided dairy barn from the early 1920s, built by Elias John Day with help from his sons and Eugene Vawdrey. According to Draper City's history of the Day Dairy Barn, three generations of the Day family farmed the land. Harmon and Phoebe Day built a dairy there starting in 1934 that became a regional model, and in 1987 the family was named Utah's Holstein Breeder of the Year at the Utah Dairy Convention.
The barn moved to Draper City Park in 2010. It was given new footings and a new foundation and was renovated into a 2,087-square-foot event space. The development on the old farm property is now the Village Shoppes at Day Dairy. So the Holiday Market weekend takes place in the last standing building from a working Draper dairy, which arrived at the park two years after the light display began in 2008.
Breakfast, bread, and dinner on 12300 South
A cluster of established cafes and restaurants sits along 12300 South, about a mile north of the park and a short drive away. Their posted hours come from each business's own site and can change over the holidays, so check before you go.
- Penny Ann's Cafe, 280 E 12300 S, posts hours of 7:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. It opens two hours after the morning lights come on and an hour before they go off. That makes it the natural pairing with a weekend visit before sunrise.
- Great Harvest Bread of Draper, 217 E 12300 S, posts weekday and Saturday hours. It is a good stop for a loaf to bring to a holiday table.
- Gourmandise, 725 E 12300 S, is a bakery-cafe with dine-in service. It is the closest of the group to 1300 East.
- Café Zupas, 75 E 12300 S, works for a quick dinner before the market's Friday evening session.
- Cultivate Craft Kitchen, 12234 S Draper Gate Dr, Suite 105, suits a sit-down dinner after an evening at the lights.
For the Candy Cane Hunt on December 7, plan the timing in reverse. The hunt starts at 4:00 sharp, the lights come on at 5:00, and dinner on 12300 South can follow once the youngest hunters have had their turn with the willow.
For the earliest possible visit, the first morning the display runs on the 5 a.m. schedule is Tuesday, December 1, the morning after the tree lighting. Check the city's event pages or call (801) 576-6584 if the weather looks doubtful on any event day.
Many homes near the park and along 1300 East are part of how Draper looks in December, and the Secrist Team pays attention to how this season shapes a home's presentation, from twilight photography to buyer timing. If you're considering a move in the new year and want to know where your Draper home stands, start with a free home valuation from our team.
