The City's Holiday Tree Has a Permanent Home Now, and It Changes How Downtown's Holiday Season Begins

Where does the holiday season in downtown Sioux Falls start? For five winters, the answer was the front of the Washington Pavilion. Last year it was a plaza on 10th Street. This year it is the river's edge at Jacobson Plaza, and the city has called the move permanent.

The location is only part of the change. The tree is now lit on a different night. In 2024 and 2025, the big tree was lit on Black Friday, shortly before the Parade of Lights came down Phillips Avenue. In 2026 it will be lit on Friday, Nov. 20, one week earlier, as part of the Winter Wonderland opening at Falls Park. Downtown's holiday season no longer opens with one crowded evening. It now unfolds over three separate nights, each centered on a different part of downtown, starting at the river.

Three Addresses in Three Seasons

The tree has moved often over the last few years, and each move had a practical reason.

In 2024, Dakota News Now reported that the Pavilion's tree lighting at 11th Street and Main Avenue would take place the same night as the Parade of Lights, with the parade starting on Phillips Avenue at 7:30 p.m. The tree and the parade belonged to the same evening.

The 2025 move started with a change one block over. Pigeon605 reported that MarketBeat had sponsored lighted holiday decorations at Courthouse Plaza, at 12th Street and Phillips Avenue, since 2021. Downtown Sioux Falls Inc. was no longer contracted to manage that plaza, so the decorations moved to the 10th Street Mural Plaza in front of the city parking ramp and became the MarketBeat Holiday Plaza. The 50-foot tree came along. The Mural Plaza already had enough electrical capacity for a tree that size, because power had been added there for the city's Winter Weekends in 2023.

Power has shaped every one of these moves. A 50-foot lighted tree has to stand where the electrical service can handle it, and until this year that meant a spot borrowed from some other use.

A Plaza Designed Around the Tree

The second phase of Jacobson Plaza opened in October. Its main feature is a dedicated plaza with lighting and electrical service built in, which the city plans to use as the permanent home for its large tree, its holiday celebrations, and other community events. SiouxFalls.Business reported that the project cost $2.6 million, and that 90 percent of it was paid for by the plaza's lead donor, the Garry Jacobson family, together with the Rob Everist family.

The expansion also improved walking connections between Jacobson Plaza, Falls Park, the Levitt Shell, and The Steel District. It added a large, level lawn between the Levitt Shell's lawn and the plaza. On Nov. 20, those connections let people walk from the falls to the tree to the Levitt grounds without leaving the lights.

Speaking at the opening, Mayor Christine Erickson pointed out what the site used to be. As SiouxFalls.Business reported, she said:

"This project truly transformed an underused green space, and long before that a former scrapyard, into a place we can gather, relax and make lasting memories."

She also tied the tree to the event it now shares a night with. In the same report, she said that "Winter Wonderland is immensely popular for our community, and we know the Christmas tree ceremony will only enhance it."

November 20 Now Has Two Lightings

According to the City of Sioux Falls Winter Wonderland page, the evening has two parts. The lights at The Falls come on at 5 p.m. The large Holiday tree is lit in its new spot at Jacobson Plaza at 6 p.m., and fireworks follow. This is the 23rd straight year of the Winter Wonderland display.

The display is larger than past years and reaches farther from the falls. The city lists:

• Over 29 miles of lights
• The large City Holiday Tree
• The light show expanded to Levitt at The Falls
• 280 decorated trees
• More holiday structures throughout Falls Park and Jacobson Plaza

After opening night, the lights and holiday music run daily from 5 p.m. to midnight through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2027. Falls Park is free to visit the whole time. The city recommends the five-story viewing tower at the Visitor Information Center for the best view. If you would rather stay in the car, drive North Weber Avenue or North Phillips Avenue and tune to FM 97.7 for the matching soundtrack. Falls Park is at 131 East Falls Park Drive.

Parade Night Starts Earlier, Too

With the tree lit a week before, the Parade of Lights stands alone this year, and it starts earlier. The Downtown Sioux Falls listing for the 34th Annual First Bank & Trust Parade of Lights, powered by Xcel Energy, shows Friday, Nov. 27, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The route runs south on Phillips Avenue from 13th Street to 5th Street. In 2025 the parade began at 7:30 p.m., after the tree lighting.

The 2025 Downtown Sioux Falls parade listing named the official Downtown Holiday Tree lighting as one of the night's highlights. The 2026 listing does not include it. It names the lighted floats, the grand marshal and awards such as "Best Use of Lights" and "Spirit of Sioux Falls," and parking in nearby downtown ramps and surface lots. Some other event calendars still describe a tree lighting on parade night. Based on the city's plans, the tree will already have been lit for a week by Nov. 27.

The listing says the parade goes on snow or shine.

A Third Night, at Cherapa Place

The tree's move to the river leaves the center of downtown without a large holiday gathering until after Thanksgiving. The new event filling that time sits on the east bank. Downtown Sioux Falls is holding its first Downtown Christmas Market on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 3 to 9 p.m., at Cherapa Place Plaza, 300 N. Cherapa Place. The plans include carolers, seasonal food and drinks, Santa, local retailers, and family activities.

Pomegranate Market will be the warming center and host headquarters. The vendor list includes:

1. Nunzio's
2. Blackfork Farms
3. The Spice and Tea Exchange
4. Terra Shepherd Boutique
5. Plum's Cooking Company
6. Landscape Garden Centers
7. MatchBox Candle Co.
8. Totally Rad Pizza
9. Fig and Fir Resale

During the same weeks, the Downtown Sioux Falls calendar shows Downtown Gives coupon books on sale from Nov. 14 through Dec. 31. That puts a downtown shopping option on the calendar before the first lights come on and keeps it there past the market.

Between the Big Nights

Spreading the season out leaves plenty of ordinary weeknights when the river district is lit and calm. The city recommends combining the lights with a skate on the Jacobson Plaza Skate Ribbon and something warm from The Lodge.

Explore The Falls lists the ribbon's seasonal rental and warming-house hours as follows:

• Monday through Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m.
• Friday, 4 to 10 p.m.
• Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
• Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The 2026 opening day for skating has not been posted on that page yet, so check before you bring skates on Nov. 20.

Levitt at the Falls has also changed. Experience Sioux Falls reports that the Sweetman Atrium expansion opened in October 2026 for year-round programming. With the light show now reaching the Levitt grounds, this will be the first holiday season with the Shell's new indoor space next to the display.

For planning, the three dates are Friday, Nov. 20, at Falls Park and Jacobson Plaza, starting at 5 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 27, on Phillips Avenue, starting at 6 p.m.; and Saturday, Dec. 5, at Cherapa Place Plaza, from 3 to 9 p.m. The lights stay on nightly through Jan. 3.

Private funding paid for most of the new plaza on the river, and it is already reshaping the downtown calendar. For homeowners, that kind of change can affect what living near the river district means for a property over time. If you live near downtown and want to know how changes like this could show up in your home's value, Danielle Konechne can give you a careful, discreet read of your home and the market around it. Get a Free Home Valuation, and enjoy the lights.