Baytown's Christmas Parade

This page lives at /events/annual/christmas and updates every year. Dates are pulled from the calendar; venues that move are never typed here.

The parade

Downtown, the first Thursday of December, in the evening: floats from every church, school and youth league in town, the high school bands, the dance studios, fire trucks with the sirens on, and Santa at the end on whatever the fire department has decided he rides this year. It runs down Texas Avenue and the whole town lines it. Bring a chair, a blanket, and a thermos; December in Baytown is either sixty-five degrees or forty, never in between, and you won't know which until noon.

Parking: same as Grito Fest — Lee College or the north side, and walk. Streets close an hour before. Kids: front row, on the curb, with a bag for the candy that gets thrown. That's the whole point. After: Town Square for the tree lighting if it's the same night, then hot chocolate wherever's open — Heart and Whisk if they've stayed late, the Cuban Cafe if not. Entering a float: the city takes applications through Parks & Rec in the fall; the link is on the calendar card when it opens.

The lights

• Town Square — the tree and the downtown lights, up from the parade through New Year's. Free, walkable, the photo.
• The neighborhoods — every year a few streets go all in; the calendar carries a lights map once addresses come in through the submit form. The Cedar Bayou side usually has the best block; Mont Belvieu's new subdivisions compete.
• The drive-through shows — the big commercial light shows move around the east side from year to year (the Raceway one is gone with the Raceway); where the nearest one is this season is on the calendar card above, not hard-typed here, because it changes.
• The plants — not lights, but the refineries at night in December, with the cold air clearing the sky, are the local version of a skyline. The Hyatt terrace is the seat.

The season, in order

• Thanksgiving weekend: lights go up; the Market at Town Square does its holiday edition.
• First Thursday of December: the parade.
• Mid-December: school concerts, the Lee College PAC's holiday show, church programs — all on the calendar.
• Christmas Eve: most restaurants close by three; check each page, and don't assume the Cuban Cafe is the exception until its page says so.
• New Year's: the lights come down and the town goes back to Tex-Mex.

En español

El desfile de Navidad de Baytown es el primer jueves de diciembre en Texas Avenue, en el centro; carrozas de iglesias, escuelas y ligas, bandas, y Santa al final. Estacione en Lee College. Las luces del Town Square quedan hasta Año Nuevo; los espectáculos de luces cambian de lugar cada año, vea el calendario.