{"id":66867,"date":"2025-12-01T19:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/66867\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T19:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T19:40:10","slug":"a-santa-parade-takes-over-downtown-tampa-before-the-citys-christmas-tree-lighting-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/66867\/","title":{"rendered":"A Santa parade takes over Downtown Tampa before the city&#8217;s Christmas Tree lighting this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"571\" data-attachment-id=\"348296\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/arts\/santa-fest-tampa-curtis-hixon-tree-lighting-2025\/attachment\/dothis-i-know-him-kim-defalco-120425\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/dothis-I-know-him-Kim-DeFalco-120425-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1874&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1874\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;11&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 5D Mark IV&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1733512496&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;54&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;800&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"dothis-I know him!!!-Kim DeFalco-120425\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;SantaFest 2024.&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/dothis-I-know-him-Kim-DeFalco-120425-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C220&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/dothis-I-know-him-Kim-DeFalco-120425-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C571&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/dothis-I-know-him-Kim-DeFalco-120425.jpg\" alt=\"A smiling Santa Claus waves from a parade float, dressed in a red suit with gold trim and white gloves. He stands behind a railing draped with purple, green, and gold beads, with pine trees and a modern blue glass building visible in the background against a clear sky.\" class=\"wp-image-348296\"  \/>SantaFest 2024. Credit: Kim DeFalco \/ Creative Loafing<\/p>\n<p>Santas galore will march and ride through Tampa before a Christmas tree lighting at Curtis Hixon Park, officially starting the holiday season in downtown. The celebration also includes crafts, reindeer games, food and free photos with Santa. <\/p>\n<p>Mayor Jane Castor leads the countdown to light all seven trees before a screening of \u201cThe Best Christmas Pageant Ever\u201d (2024). Bring blankets, low-back chairs and well-behaved dogs on leashes. <\/p>\n<p>The parade starts at 1 p.m., beginning at Morgan and Madison Streets. It travels west on Madison to Ashley Drive, turns north and ends at Ashley and Cass Street. Best viewing is along Madison, per the city. <\/p>\n<p>The tree lighting happens at 6 p.m. in Curtis Hixon Park. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampa.gov\/special-events-coordination\/news-and-events\/santa-fest\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">There is no cover for Santa Fest &amp; Tree Lighting, happening Saturday, Dec. 6 in Tampa.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/tampa\/NewsletterSignup\/Page\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAiECLjru3gB6BLYKOKFLfkVZsqFAgKIhAi467t4AegS2CjihS35FWb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbreak.com\/@c\/1599764?s=01\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CreativeLoafingTampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cltampabay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cltampabay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/cltampabay.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Recent Stories<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/news\/florida-pediatricians-recall-pre-vaccine-suffering-as-ladapos-plan-to-strike-mandates-stalls\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1764618009_675_Vaccine-Albertm24-shutterstock_1897510480-scaled.jpg\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Florida pediatricians recall pre-vaccine suffering as Ladapo\u2019s plan to strike mandates stalls\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"348297\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/news\/florida-pediatricians-recall-pre-vaccine-suffering-as-ladapos-plan-to-strike-mandates-stalls\/attachment\/january19of2020-madridspaininjectionofpfizervaccine\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Vaccine-Albertm24-shutterstock_1897510480-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2560,1707\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Shutterstock&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;Copyright (c) 2021 Albertm24\\\/Shutterstock.  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No use without permission.&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Moscow,,Russia,,29-07-2023:,New,Elon,Musk's,Twitter,X,App,On&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Moscow,,Russia,,29-07-2023:,New,Elon,Musk\u2019s,Twitter,X,App,On\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Viktollio-social-media-shutterstock_2339442245-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Viktollio-social-media-shutterstock_2339442245-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tThe law prevents children under age 14 from opening accounts on certain platforms.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"collection-link has-small-font-size\">This article appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/collections\/nov-27-dec-03-2025\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nov. 27 \u2013 Dec. 03, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSelene San Felice is managing editor of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. Prior to joining CL in 2025, she started the Axios Tampa Bay newsletter and worked for her hometown paper, The Capital in Annapolis,&#8230;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/author\/selene\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Selene San Felice\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SantaFest 2024. Credit: Kim DeFalco \/ Creative Loafing Santas galore will march and ride through Tampa before a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[31941,39205,39206,135,137,136,27595],"class_list":["post-66867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-curtis-hixon-park","tag-holiday-things-to-do-tampa-bay","tag-santa-fest","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-things-to-do-in-tampa-this-weekend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}