Light Up the Lake Moved a Week and a Half Hour. Plan Around 5 to 5:45.

Wayzata's Light Up the Lake Celebration is tomorrow, Friday, November 20, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Lake Street. The City says this year's date is "one week prior to the normal date" and falls on the Friday before Thanksgiving. The clock changed as well. The Wayzata Firefighter's Parade of Lights now starts at 5:45 p.m. In the City's 2025 schedule it started at 5:15.

That 30-minute shift changes how the evening plays out. Before, the parade came 15 minutes after the gates opened. Now there are 45 minutes, and the City has packed nearly every activity into that window, plus a few that only happen in it. If you show up at 5:40 to catch the parade, you'll have missed most of the evening.

What happens before the parade

The City of Wayzata's event listing splits the night into timed events and activities that run the whole two hours. Here is how they line up, in order.

1. 5:00 p.m. Children's Candy Hunt at Depot Park. It's limited to ages 5 and under, so families with toddlers should be at Depot Park when the event opens.
2. 5:00 to 5:45 p.m. Free glow light wands on Lake Street. The listing says wands go out only before the parade. Once the fire trucks roll, the handout is over.
3. 5:45 p.m. Wayzata Firefighter's Parade of Lights. The route runs along Lake Street from Broadway to Barry Ave.
4. Immediately after: Town Lighting Ceremony with Mayor Mullin at Panoway Plaza.

These activities run from 5 to 7 p.m., before and after the parade:

• Llama photo opportunity at Depot Park
• Hot cider and treats inside the Historic Wayzata Depot
• A reindeer food activity for children, also inside the Depot
• Letters to Santa at Panoway Plaza
• Muni refreshments at Panoway Plaza
• Horse-drawn wagon rides on Lake Street
• Strolling carolers and music on Lake Street

One more change from the 2025 lineup: the photo stop at Depot Park has llamas this year in place of reindeer.

Why the 45-minute window matters

Most of the activities are clustered at two spots. Depot Park and the Historic Wayzata Depot have the candy hunt, the llamas, the cider and the reindeer food. Panoway Plaza has letters to Santa, the Muni refreshments, the IOCP food drive and, later, the lighting ceremony. The parade runs between them, so once it starts, it divides the evening into a before and an after.

The new schedule gives families more time to get through the Depot Park activities before the parade starts. Under the 2025 timing, a family that started with the candy hunt had about 15 minutes for llama photos and cider, and to pick up a glow wand, before needing a spot on Lake Street. This year there's room to do all of it, find a curb spot on the route, and be holding a lit wand when the first fire truck goes by.

The most practical way to plan is to work backward from 5:45. Arrive by 5 if you have a child 5 or under for the candy hunt. Be on Lake Street with wands in hand by about 5:35. After the parade, walk toward Panoway Plaza for the lighting, Santa letters and refreshments.

Who flips the switch

One unusual feature of Light Up the Lake is that a child may be the one who lights the town. The City's fifth annual Winter Medallion Hunt ran the week before the event, with clues posted November 9 through 13 on wayzata.org, on the Chamber's site and on social media. To win, you had to be 12 or under. The first child or family to find the medallion earns the honor of lighting up Wayzata on November 20.

That makes the lighting at Panoway Plaza the last step of a weeklong hunt, and one family in town has been waiting since the clues came out to see it.

What to bring

The evening includes two donation drives. The IOCP food drive collects at Panoway Plaza, and Toys for Tots collects at the Wayzata PD parade float. The Wayzata West Metro Chamber's event page lists the specific items IOCP needs this year:

• Brand-name boxed cereal, such as Cheerios, Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes
• Canned tuna
• Toilet paper
• Name-brand hearty soup, such as Progresso, Campbell's or Chunky
• Spaghetti sauce in a plastic jar or container

The plastic container note is worth following. If you're grabbing a jar of sauce from the pantry on the way out, check what it's packed in.

Before 5, and the week after

The earlier start also works well for a stop beforehand. Bar Eloise, at 326 Broadway Ave. S., sits on the street where the parade route begins. Its website lists happy hour Tuesday through Saturday from 4 to 5 p.m., which ends just as the candy hunt starts at Depot Park. According to Wayzata.com's August report, the relaunch of the former Eloise was planned around a more casual concept, with added bar and high-top seating and an expanded sidewalk patio. Sunday brunch runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., which is an option for the weekend after the lighting.

With the lighting a week earlier, downtown's other holiday dates now follow it one after another:

The Chamber lists the Snowglobe Social at Red Cow as offering holiday cocktails and festive food in a snow-globe-themed setting, during Red Cow's normal business hours. It opens the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, four days after the lighting. The Small Business Saturday listing asks residents to shop local on November 28.

Put together, the town is lit the Friday before Thanksgiving, the Snowglobe Social opens that Tuesday, and Small Business Saturday comes the weekend after. That makes about eight days between the lighting and the main shop-local day. Lake Street will be decorated for both, and you can head into Thanksgiving week with the lighting already behind you.

For full event details and any updates before tomorrow night, check the City's page at wayzata.org/lightupthelake.

At Brooks Team, we're Wayzata neighbors too, and Lake Street on lighting night is one of our favorite evenings of the year. If you're thinking about a move and want a winter that starts with the Parade of Lights, we'd be glad to talk it over. Schedule a Free Market Consultation and we'll walk you through what's happening in the Wayzata market this season.