"We're hoping that come Festival of Lights, we'll have a really beautiful celebration here on Fourth Street," Sean Hawkins, executive director of the Loveland Downtown District, told the Loveland Reporter-Herald in July. At the time, he was looking past a year and a half of construction toward one Friday night in November.
Across town, a different crew is pulling out the ice rink at the Promenade Shops at Centerra so it can be rebuilt in time for the same season. Both of Loveland's main gathering districts spent 2026 rebuilding the spaces where the holidays happen, and their openings fall exactly one week apart. Centerra lights up on Friday, Nov. 13. Downtown follows on Friday, Nov. 20. Treat those two Fridays as one sequence and the season becomes easier to plan.
The Season Without Its Old Centerpiece
For eight years, Winter Wonderlights filled Chapungu Sculpture Park every December. Visit Loveland announced that the festival would not return for the 2025 holiday season. In its place, the announcement pointed residents to several smaller events: a lighted display at Dwayne Webster Veterans Park, the Downtown Festival of Lights, holiday events at Centerra, Christmas Walk in the Woods, and holiday shopping downtown and at the Promenade Shops.
So far no one has announced whether Winter Wonderlights will return in 2026. Chapungu will still be lit, though. Centerra's 2026 holiday page lists the All Is Bright Tour at several Centerra locations, Chapungu among them, running daily from Nov. 13 through Jan. 1. All Is Bright is a Centerra-wide tour under a new name, and no one has described it as Winter Wonderlights returning. Still, the sculpture park is back on the holiday calendar, and it opens the season.
Nov. 13: Centerra Goes First, Around a Rink Under Construction
The Flip the Switch Ceremony runs at Chapungu Sculpture Park on Friday, Nov. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m., the same day the All Is Bright Tour begins.
The bigger change is next door at the Promenade Shops. Galway Companies, a Wisconsin real estate firm, bought the 494,500-square-foot open-air center last August for $55 million, according to the Reporter-Herald. It's Galway's first property in Colorado. The firm is putting new roofs on 10 buildings, giving storefronts their own facades, and adding outdoor seating, landscaping, lighting, and property-wide Wi-Fi. "Everything's beige," Galway founding principal Steve Doran told the paper, explaining why each tenant is getting a distinct look.
Doran called the rink "one of our biggest endeavors." In the same report, he said the old rink is being ripped out and replaced with a landscaped, multipurpose open space with fire pits that will work in summer and winter. He also said families will be able to watch children and grandchildren skate more easily than they can now. The rink is expected to be finished "by November, in time for the holiday season." Galway's own figures put the center at about 3.8 million visits a year, which is more than 70,000 a week. The holiday rink will sit in the middle of that traffic.
Opening night overlaps with a long-running city event. The City of Loveland's Ski & Sports Swap opens the same Friday at the Chilson Recreation Center, 700 E. Fourth St. General admission runs 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14. Flip the Switch ends at 7 p.m. and the Swap stays open until 8, so one Friday evening can cover both.
Nov. 20: The First Festival of Lights on the New Fourth Street
The Heart Improvement Plan, known as HIP Streets, is a $24.5 million rebuild of Fourth Street between Washington and Garfield avenues. Work has been underway since February 2025. The project added new light posts and strings of lights that can be programmed for different downtown celebrations. Hawkins gave the example of red, white, and blue for next Fourth of July.
The Festival of Lights is the first major holiday test of that lighting. The Loveland Downtown District has set it for Friday, Nov. 20, from 5 to 8 p.m., with the debut of holiday lighting along Fourth Street, a tree-lighting ceremony, live music, live reindeer, a holiday market, carriage rides, and visits with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The district's event page says it will take place "on the newly completed 4th Street this year."
The construction schedule is less settled than that line suggests. The City's weekly HIP update for Oct. 12 through 18 lists Block 4, between Cleveland and Railroad avenues, as still closed to vehicles while crews finish punch-list items. Businesses on that block remain open to pedestrians. Vehicle access across the BNSF railroad tracks on Fourth is fully closed, and permanent sculptures are being installed on Blocks 1, 2, 3, and 5. The City's project timeline lists November 2026 for the finish, and in July the Reporter-Herald reported the final block was expected in time for the festival. Downtown has marked earlier milestones block by block, with a Block 5 celebration on June 5 and a Block 3 grand opening and block party on Sept. 12. Nov. 20 is when the whole corridor is meant to come together for the first time.
The Two-District Calendar, Week by Week
Once both districts have opened, the events start to alternate between them, and they stack up most heavily on the second weekend of December.
| Date | Where | Event | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, Nov. 13 | Chapungu Sculpture Park, Centerra | Flip the Switch Ceremony; All Is Bright Tour begins, running daily through Jan. 1 | 5–7 p.m. |
| Nov. 13–14 | Chilson Recreation Center | Ski & Sports Swap | Fri 5:30–8 p.m.; Sat 9 a.m.–1 p.m. |
| Fri, Nov. 20 | Fourth Street, downtown | Festival of Lights | 5–8 p.m. |
| Thu, Dec. 3 | Rialto Theater | Kalani Pe'a, "Hawaiian Christmas" | 7:30 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec. 5 | Loveland Visitor Center | Centerra Holiday Festival | 11 a.m.–3 p.m. |
| Fri, Dec. 11 | Promenade Shops; 1750 Savage Road | Reindeer visit; Christmas Walk in the Woods opens | Walk runs 5–8 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec. 12 | Promenade Shops; Chapungu | Breakfast and photos with Santa; skating with Buddy and Jovie; Sleigh Bell Shuffle | Shuffle 4–5:30 p.m. |
| Sat, Dec. 19 | Promenade Shops | Breakfast and photos with Santa; skating with Anna and Elsa | See Centerra listing |
Centerra's Holiday Festival on Dec. 5 is held at the Loveland Visitor Center and includes local makers, Santa, a tubing slide, and giveaways. The Sleigh Bell Shuffle is a one-mile run or walk through Chapungu. Christmas Walk in the Woods runs Dec. 11 through 31 and closes on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
On the Saturday of Dec. 12, a morning with Santa at the Promenade, an afternoon skate on the new rink if it opens on schedule, and the Shuffle at 4 p.m. all fit within Centerra. Christmas Walk in the Woods, which opened the night before, can fill the evening.
Downtown has two longer runs to pair with an evening on Fourth Street. The Downtown Loveland calendar lists "Found on Fourth" from Sept. 12, 2026, through Feb. 13, 2027, and "Creative Confluence: The Origins of Abstract Art in Colorado, 1946–1960" through Jan. 2, 2027. Both are open on Festival of Lights night and stay open through the rest of the season.
What Hasn't Been Confirmed for 2026
These details were not confirmed as of mid-October:
- Rink opening day, hours, and prices. The Promenade rink's website still shows last season's dates and rates. Those shouldn't be read as 2026–27 figures, and no new opening date has been announced.
- The last stretch of HIP Streets. Block 4 and the BNSF crossing were still closed to vehicles as of the Oct. 9 update. No ceremony for the finished corridor has been announced.
- Winter Wonderlights. The only public notice covers the 2025 season.
- The 12 Days of Christmas display at Dwayne Webster Veterans Park. Only 2025 dates have been published.
- New Promenade tenants. MINISO, Christopher & Banks, and Windsor were announced for this fall. JD Sports, Hot Topic, BoxLunch, Cabinet IQ, Hot Pot Grill, and Los Dos Potrillos are expected by spring 2027. None of these opening dates are firm yet.
Downtown has more openings coming in 2027. According to the Reporter-Herald, Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant is under construction at 225 E. Fourth St. and is slated for next year, and the paper also reported that Georgia Boys BBQ has announced a move downtown with a hoped-for late-spring 2027 opening.
This year, public money is rebuilding Fourth Street and private money is rebuilding Centerra. When you want to understand how that kind of reinvestment shows up in your own plans in Loveland, Chad Murray is glad to go through it with you. Schedule a consultation whenever it suits you.
