"Its Farmington's very own Hallmark movie experience!" That's how the Farmington Community Lighted Holiday Parade page describes the night of Saturday, December 5. It promises more than 40 lighted floats, a tree lighting and Santa downtown.
The parade closes a run of dates that starts at a fire station on November 14 and passes through a recycling bin, a sign-up form and a decoration deadline before anyone lines up downtown. Each date leads into the next one. If you live here, this is the week to sort out which of them you want to be part of.
November 14 starts at Fire Station 1
The season opens at a bingo table. The Farmington Firefighters Relief Association is hosting the 75th Annual Turkey Bingo on Saturday, November 14, at Fire Station 1, 21625 Denmark Ave. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. and the first game starts at 6 p.m.
If you have a fall routine built around this event, check your calendar. The city lists November 14 as a new date this year.
Seventy-five years is a long run for a fundraiser, and the money still goes back into the department. The city calls it the association's largest fundraiser of the year. Over the past few years, the association has donated more than $50,000, which went toward training equipment. The event is family-friendly. Anyone can play, but you must be 18 to claim a prize. The draws are bingo games, door prizes, raffles and what the department calls "our famous turkey sandwiches." Sun Thisweek's preview also describes the meal, the prizes and the sponsorships that go to the relief association.
Coming two days before anything else on the calendar, Turkey Bingo marks the start of Farmington's lights season. The next step comes on Monday.
The recycling bins open one day before tour sign-up closes
On Monday, November 16, the city opens its Holiday Light Collection. Bring your broken, tangled or unwanted light strings and cords to any of four drop-off sites through Sunday, January 31, 2027.
| Drop-off site | Address |
|---|---|
| Farmington City Hall | 430 Third St. |
| Rambling River Center | 325 Oak St. |
| Farmington Liquors | 18350 Pilot Knob Rd. |
| Farmington Liquors | 923 Eighth St. |
The timing is useful. The bins open while the ladders are coming out. A string that died last January can go in the bin on the same trip that buys its replacement. Those two Farmington Liquors locations put drop-offs on both the Pilot Knob side of town and the Eighth Street side.
Some holiday items don't belong in the bins. The city lists what it can't accept:
- Cord adapters
- Plastic rope lights
- CFL bulbs
- Battery packs
- Garlands
- Artificial trees
- Statuary
- Metal fixtures
If you miss the seasonal window, holiday lights are accepted year-round at The Recycling Zone, 3365 Dodd Road in Eagan. Dakota County's Recycling Zone page lists current hours and says the site serves residents of seven metro counties, including Dakota.
Two Tuesdays decide which houses go on the map
The day after the bins open, the most time-sensitive deadline of the season arrives. The city's Holiday Lights Tour registration closes Tuesday, November 17. Farmington Parks & Recreation posted the notice on October 19. Houses that sign up go onto a virtual map that anyone can use to plan a drive or a walk past the most decorated homes in town.
The second Tuesday is December 1, the date by which registered houses must have their decorations ready. That leaves exactly two weeks between the sign-up deadline and the readiness deadline. In a Minnesota late November, those two weeks can bring one mild weekend or none.
Last season gives a sense of scale. The city's interactive map went live on December 5, 2025, and listed display addresses along with special notes for each stop. Sun Thisweek reported that 27 homes were on that 2025 tour. A list that short means every house on it gets attention. One more house with a well-lit roofline changes the tour more here than it would on a list of hundreds.
Last year's map went live on December 5, the night before the 2025 parade. With this year's displays due December 1 and the parade on December 5, the map and the floats arrive in the same week again.
December 5, hour by hour
The parade is now in its third year. The city's calendar still carries the 2025 listing for the second annual parade, held Saturday, December 6, 2025, at 7 p.m. downtown. This year's schedule fills the whole day, starting in the morning:
- 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The window decorating contest is open.
- 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Downtown shops are open, with free light-up giveaways to carry during the parade.
- 9 a.m. to noon. Secret Santa Shopping for Kids at the Rambling River Center.
- 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Pictures with Santa at Homestead, plus kids' Christmas crafts and letters to Santa at the Homestead Community Corner.
- 5 to 8:30 p.m. Food trucks open.
- 6 to 8 p.m. Free apple cider and cookies at the Rambling River Center.
- 6:30 p.m. Holiday carols by the FHS Choir.
- 6:45 p.m. Window contest winners are announced, followed by the Rotary Tree Lighting in the Homestead lot.
- 7 p.m. The Lighted Holiday Parade.
From 5 p.m., the organizers also promise free hot chocolate and fire pits downtown. Homestead Community Church's Farmington campus is at 344 3rd St., so the Santa photos, the letter-writing table and the tree lighting all happen in the church's corner of downtown.
The order of the evening matters. Carols at 6:30 lead into the tree lighting at 6:45, and the floats start at 7. If you arrive at 6:55, you'll see the parade but miss the moment the tree comes on.
Bring something to give. The parade page asks attendees to bring donations for Toys for Town, the Farmington Police Department's Annual Holiday Gift Drive. That makes the parade the season's second charity handoff, after the firefighters' bingo three weeks earlier.
Third and Oak carry most of the season
Look at the addresses together and most of the season sits on a few downtown blocks. The Rambling River Center at 325 Oak St. is a light drop-off site, the morning stop for Secret Santa shopping and the evening stop for cider and cookies. City Hall at 430 Third St. takes light strings. Homestead at 344 3rd St. hosts Santa, the letters and the tree.
The same stretch of Third Street also has Beans & Boots Coffee at 408 Third St., inside the Farmington Business Center. Sun Thisweek's profile reports that the shop is open seven days a week from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Its beans come from Tapestry Coffee in downtown Lakeville, and it bakes cookies, muffins, scones and croissants in-house. Those hours line up with the morning half of parade day. Window judging and shopping start at 9, Secret Santa runs until noon, and the coffee shop closes at 3, an hour and a half before Santa arrives at Homestead.
That makes a full Saturday possible on foot. Drop off a bag of dead light strings at City Hall, get coffee a few doors down on Third Street, walk the decorated windows, and come back after dark for carols at 6:30.
The collection bins stay out long after the floats are put away. Whenever this year's display comes down, any strings that didn't survive can go back to Oak Street or City Hall until January 31, 2027.
Getting your house ready for the tour map, or eyeing the window contest for a downtown storefront? A design eye helps the night view as much as the daytime one. Lighting placement, the rooflines you choose to trace and the way a facade looks from the street after dark all draw on the same staging judgment we bring to listings. Your Home By Design is happy to walk your exterior with you before the December 1 deadline. Start Your Home By Design. Schedule a Free Market & Staging Consultation.