Novato Holiday Celebrations & Festivals
Downtown Novato (Grant Avenue & Sherman Avenue) · Holiday / Community / Seasonal
Novato Holiday Celebrations & Festivals — A Year-Round Calendar of Community Joy in North Marin's Largest City
Novato is the kind of city that knows how to celebrate. North Marin County's largest community brings an outsized sense of community pride and civic warmth to its annual calendar of events — a rich, year-round cycle of holidays, festivals, street parties, and seasonal traditions that turn Grant Avenue and downtown Novato into a gathering place for families, neighbors, and visitors from across the Bay Area. From the bouncy ball madness of the holiday season to the summer street parties of Grant Avenue, Novato has built one of the most consistently engaging community event calendars in all of Marin County.
Here is your complete guide to the celebrations and festivals that define the Novato community year.
SUMMER — Grant Avenue Summer Street Parties
The Novato community summer begins with one of its most beloved recurring traditions. Grant Avenue goes pedestrian-only on the first Friday of June, July, and August from 5 to 10 PM, transforming downtown Novato's tree-lined main street into a pedestrian celebration ground for three consecutive months of live music, food, community energy, and the particular magic of a downtown street reclaimed from traffic on a warm North Marin evening. These Friday night street parties set the tone for the summer and give the community a monthly anchor event that neighbors plan around and look forward to all week.
JUNE — Novato Art, Wine & Music Festival
The crown jewel of the Novato summer calendar arrives on the second weekend of June — the beloved Novato Art, Wine & Music Festival on Grant Avenue, now in its fifth decade as North Marin's premier free outdoor festival. Festivals and street parties with live music, holiday traditions, and a classic car show fill the tree-lined street with vibrancy and community. Two stages of live music, 200 arts and crafts booths, wine tastings from 40-plus North Bay wineries, food vendors, and the beloved Battle of the Bands all converge on Grant Avenue for a weekend that draws 10,000-plus visitors annually.
FALL — High School Homecoming Float Parades
Each fall, both area high schools put on a parade of floats not to be missed — a beloved community tradition that puts Novato's next generation front and center on the city's streets, celebrating school spirit in the most traditional and genuinely heartwarming way. The homecoming parades are a reminder that Novato's community identity is rooted in its families and its schools as much as its restaurants and festivals.
NOVEMBER — Small Business Saturday & The 12 Days of Giving
The holiday season in Novato begins with a genuine commitment to the local economy. Small Business Saturday in November kicks off the holiday shopping season with the city encouraging residents to support Novato's business community — every purchase in Novato positively impacts the local economy. The Novato Chamber of Commerce amplifies that message with the 12 Days of Giving, a chamber initiative running from November 25 through December 23 with daily prize drawings, encouraging residents to support local businesses and enjoy festive community fun throughout the holiday season.
DECEMBER — Holiday Crafts Faire at Margaret Todd Senior Center
Novato Parks, Recreation and Community Services holds its annual Holiday Crafts Faire on the first Friday evening and Saturday of December at the Margaret Todd Senior Center at 1560 Hill Road — with over 50 artisans selling handmade crafts including jewelry, ceramics, specialty foods, wreaths, ornaments, bath and body products and more, entertainment throughout the event, and free admission to the public on both days. It is the perfect early-December destination for anyone looking for unique, handmade holiday gifts that support local makers — and the Senior Center setting gives it a warmth and intimacy that larger holiday markets rarely match.
DECEMBER — Annual Tree Lighting Festival
The emotional centerpiece of Novato's holiday calendar arrives on the first Saturday of December. The annual Novato Tree Lighting Festival illuminates downtown Novato starting at 4 PM on Sherman Avenue — a festive evening featuring live music, community dance performances, and children's activities including art and crafts and cookie decorating, with vendor booths lining Grant Avenue and local shops, restaurants, tasting rooms, and tap rooms all joining the celebration.
The event builds to its most beloved moment at 5 PM: the grand arrival on the Novato Fire Department's ladder truck, with the Tree Lighting Ceremony taking place at 5:30 PM — and for children in the crowd, watching Santa descend from a fire truck ladder to light the downtown tree is the kind of holiday memory that lasts a lifetime.
Kids of all ages are invited downtown to see what happens when thousands of small bouncy balls are dropped onto the street from a ladder truck 40 feet in the air — kids get a souvenir hard hat and can keep as many bouncy balls as their pockets and buckets can hold. It is, without question, one of the most joyfully absurd and genuinely delightful children's holiday traditions in all of Marin County — a Novato original that could only happen here.
DECEMBER — Not So Silent Night
Downtown Novato's Not So Silent Night on the second Saturday of December transforms downtown into a late-night holiday shopping extravaganza — favorite stores stay open late, filled with special treats, while restaurants, bars, taprooms, and tasting rooms burst with live music and holiday cheer. It is the perfect downtown Novato evening for adults who want their holiday celebration with a craft beer and a live band rather than a cup of hot cocoa.
DECEMBER — Grand Menorah Lighting
The Chabad Jewish Center of Novato hosts the annual Grand Menorah Lighting at Novato City Hall on 901 Sherman Avenue — a Chanukah celebration that brings the community together to light up the night and honors the rich cultural diversity that has always been part of what makes Novato such a welcoming and inclusive community.
DECEMBER — Marin Ballet's Nutcracker at the Novato Center for the Arts
Marin Ballet's annual Nutcracker at the Novato Center for the Arts at 625 Arthur Street features the artistry of 125 dancers alongside elaborate Victorian costumes and sets — bringing Clara's magical Christmas Eve dreams to life in one of the most beloved performing arts traditions in the North Bay. For Novato families, the Nutcracker is the annual event that makes December feel complete.
DECEMBER — Gingerbread Build at the Senior Center
Novato Parks, Recreation and Community Services hosts the annual Gingerbread Build from 9:30 AM to noon at the Margaret Todd Senior Center — a festive morning of gingerbread house decorating with holiday music, hot chocolate, and coffee, a tradition that brings multiple generations together around a table with frosting, candy, and the universal language of holiday creativity.
SMART Holiday Toy Drive
SMART hosts a special Holiday Toy Drive on all trains in early December — each adult passenger who brings a new, unwrapped toy to donate rides free, and kids accompanied by an adult also ride free — a uniquely North Bay holiday tradition that turns the daily commute into an act of community generosity.
A Community That Celebrates Every Season
What makes Novato's holiday and festival calendar genuinely special is not any single event but the cumulative effect of a city that creates reasons for its community to gather, celebrate, and take care of each other across every season of the year. From the bouncy ball drop to the Menorah lighting, from the summer street parties to the Nutcracker, Novato has built a calendar of traditions that reflects a community with real warmth, real civic pride, and a genuine belief that life is better when you celebrate it together.
Downtown Novato — Grant Avenue & Sherman Avenue, Novato, CA 94945
City of Novato Parks & Recreation: (415) 899-8290
visitnovato.com · novato.gov · downtownnovato.com
@DowntownNovato on Facebook & Instagram
Most events are free to attend. Check visitnovato.com and downtownnovato.com for current dates and details. SMART train service is available to Downtown Novato station.
Pro Tip: The bouncy ball drop at the Holiday Tree Lighting is the single most unexpectedly joyful thing that happens in Marin County every December — bring children, bring a bucket, and arrive by 4:30 PM to claim your spot before the streets fill. For the Art, Wine & Music Festival in June, follow the Downtown Novato Business Association on Instagram for lineup announcements — the Battle of the Bands lineup drops a few weeks before the festival and is always worth planning around.