Show Low's Holiday Season Has Two Home Addresses This Year
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
For most of December, Show Low's holiday calendar runs out of two places. The first is the block at 180 N. 9th Street, where the city's Christmas Market and tree lighting take over one Saturday evening. The second is Meadow Trail at 769 S. White Mountain Road, which hosts the Giving Machine through the end of November and then, through most of December, a trail lined with decorated displays chosen by public vote.
The two sites run differently. The 9th Street block gets four hours on one night. Meadow Trail gets weeks. You can plan December around that split: one evening built to a tight schedule, and a trail you can visit whenever it suits you. Most of the smaller events fall on the weekdays between the two.
The Meadow Trail part of the season starts before Thanksgiving. The City of Show Low lists the Giving Machine at the Meadow from November 18 through November 29 at Meadow Trail, 769 S. White Mountain Road. That puts it across Thanksgiving week and the Saturday after.
That Saturday, November 28, is also Small Business Saturday. Show Low Main Street is holding an indoor market that day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at City Campus Gym. A late-morning market and a stop at the Meadow fit easily into the same day.
One week after the Giving Machine closes, the trail switches over. Deck the Trail Walk and Vote runs December 7 through December 28 at the same Meadow Trail address. The city invites local businesses, families, groups and organizations to register Christmas displays along the trail, and public voting picks the community favorite. Prizes are $350, $250 and $150 for the top three.
Three weeks is a lot of time for something that costs nothing to visit. You can see the trail on a cold weekday morning, come back with visiting family over the holiday week, and still get there before it ends on the 28th.
The Thanksgiving weekend matters for another reason. Show Low runs two decorating contests this December, and registration for both closes on the same day.
Both contests close registration on the Friday after Thanksgiving. If your household, office or club wants a display on the trail or your roofline in the running, sign up before the holiday weekend, not during it. The City of Show Low Parks & Recreation events page has the listings.
The voting windows also overlap. Home decorating voting opens December 1, Deck the Trail voting opens December 7, and both stay open until close to Christmas. For the middle of the month, Show Low is effectively running two neighborhood-wide votes at the same time, one for front yards and one for the trail.
Saturday, December 5, is the one night where timing matters. The parade, the market and the tree lighting are all planned around each other.
Here is how the evening runs, according to the city's listings and a Navajo County post from November 6:
The market fills the hours on either side of the parade. The city lists festive music, a photo booth, a free ornament craft, local food trucks and vendors. The Blume Haus is serving free hot cocoa, apple cider and s'mores, along with pictures with Santa.
That timing gives families a natural order for the evening. Arrive when the market opens and do the ornament craft and Santa photos while the line is short. Walk out to the Deuce of Clubs for the 6 p.m. parade, then come back for the 7 p.m. lighting. Food trucks cover dinner without leaving the block.
The parade is also open to participants. The city invites floats, and lineup on Central Avenue starts at 4 p.m. For businesses and groups, the Navajo County post lists a contact at the City of Show Low, Becca Seeley, at (928) 532-4134. A business entering a float, a trail display and a storefront in the same month would be busy from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
The parade route ends at White Mountain Road, the same road Meadow Trail is on. The town's one big night and its month of trail displays sit on the same road, a short drive apart.
Between the busy Saturday and the slow trail, the city has scheduled a few smaller events. Most of them fall on weeknights.
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, Dec. 9 | Gingerbread House Decorating Party | 760 E. McNeil | 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., $20 per person, ages 13 and up, supplies and light refreshments included |
| Saturday, Dec. 12 | Holiday Indoor Farmers Market & Gift Shop | City Campus Gym | 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., hosted by Show Low Main Street |
| Thursday, Dec. 17 | Flashlight Candy Cane Hunt | Show Low City Park | 6 to 7 p.m. |
The gingerbread party is for teens and adults, with a 13-and-up age floor. The candy cane hunt a week later is a short weeknight hour in the park, and it falls on the evening it's most likely to be dark early. The Main Street market on the 12th is the last Main Street market listed for the season, following Santa's Holiday Market on November 13 and 14 and the Small Business Saturday market on November 28. Taken together, they cover gift shopping a week after the parade crowds have gone home.
Through all of it, Deck the Trail stays up on Meadow Trail, and home decorating voting stays open until December 19.
Up the mountain, Sunrise Park Resort has a scheduled opening day of December 11, 2026, "weather and snow conditions permitting." The resort says it will open as soon as it has enough snow. If that date holds, the first lift-served weekend falls on the same Saturday as the Main Street indoor market. The Sunrise opening-day page is the place to check as the date gets closer.
For households planning the season, a few details from the resort's 2026–27 tickets page matter:
That blackout runs through the week after Christmas, the same stretch when Deck the Trail is in its last days. If visiting family is planning to ski on a flex pass that week, they'll need a different ticket or different days. Meadow Trail has no blackout dates.
If your home is going into the Show Low Shines competition this year, Blaire is always glad to talk porch lighting, entry styling and how a display reads in a photo, since that photo is what voters will see. At Urban Oak Partners, the same design eye we bring to listing photos is yours for the asking, and if you're also curious what that well-dressed house is worth this season, ask for your free home valuation.
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