Panama City Beach's 2026 holiday season starts at Aaron Bessant Park and returns there on its last night. The tree goes up at Aaron Bessant Park on the Friday after Thanksgiving. On New Year's Eve, the first beach balls of the night drop at that same park at 8 p.m. In between, the calendar has one real conflict. On Saturday, Dec. 12, the Optimist Club of the Beaches Christmas Parade rolls through Pier Park at 5 p.m. Half an hour later, across the Hathaway Bridge, the 40th Annual Boat Parade of Lights sets out on St. Andrews Bay.
That's four big community nights, and one of them forces a decision. Here's how each one is laid out, with that Saturday in the middle.
Thanksgiving weekend fills Aaron Bessant Park
Visit Panama City Beach has set Beach Home for the Holidays for Nov. 27–28, 2026, the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving. Aaron Bessant Park hosts the carol concerts, s'mores, the Christmas tree lighting, Santa and the kids' activities.
Friday has the fuller schedule, and the times are tight enough to plan around:
- 3:30 p.m. Campfires, s'mores and Santa Village open at Aaron Bessant Park
- 5:15 p.m. The Nutcracker by Panama City Ballet on the Park Stage
- 5:55 p.m. Tree lighting
- 6:00 p.m. The Band Perry on the Park Stage
- 7:30 p.m. Fireworks at City Pier
The tree lights at 5:55 and the headliner starts five minutes later, so anyone who comes for the lighting is already in place for the concert. The fireworks follow an hour and a half after that, over at City Pier.
The headliner is new this year. The 2025 edition, which Visit Panama City Beach billed as the event's 10th annual run, had RaeLynn on Friday night. This year it's The Band Perry. The rest of the program carries over: the Nutcracker, the tree lighting, the Aaron Bessant Park setting and the Saturday symphony concert.
On Saturday, Nov. 28, Santa Village and the campfires open again at 3:30 p.m. At 6 p.m. the Panama City Symphony plays with Panama City Ballet. The symphony lists that concert as free and credits Visit Panama City Beach as its partner.
The 30A towns run their own holiday calendars, but for Panama City Beach, this is the weekend that starts the season.
December 12 is the night the calendar collides
After Thanksgiving, the season's next big night comes on the second Saturday of December. The Optimist Club of the Beaches holds its Pier Park parade on that Saturday every year, and in 2026 that's Dec. 12. Destination Panama City and the City of Panama City picked the same evening for the 40th Annual Boat Parade of Lights.
Here are the two schedules side by side:
| Pier Park Christmas Parade | Boat Parade of Lights | |
|---|---|---|
| Organizer | Optimist Club of the Beaches | Destination Panama City with the City of Panama City |
| Where | Front Beach Road and Pier Park, Panama City Beach | St. Andrews Bay, Panama City |
| Earliest activity | Entrant staging from 2 p.m. | Holiday Village at the Downtown Panama City Marina, 4–7 p.m. |
| Main event | Parade starts promptly at 5 p.m. | Drone show at 5 p.m., boat parade 5:30–7:30 p.m. |
| Ends | Behind Target at Pier Park | Hathaway Bridge |
The parade at Pier Park
The Optimist Club of the Beaches says the 2026 route is the same as last year's. Entrants stage in the overflow lot and grass field north of Front Beach Road, across from Sharky's Beachfront Restaurant. The parade heads west on Front Beach Road and turns right onto South Pier Park Drive. It runs through Pier Park to the beach-ball roundabout, turns right past Dave & Buster's, and finishes on the road behind JCPenney and Target.
Local school marching bands, lit floats, fire trucks and custom cars make up the lineup. The club asks float riders not to throw candy. Walkers hand it straight to spectators instead.
If your child is marching, plan the pickup now. Parents collecting kids at the end of the route have to park in Target's lot and walk to the back of the store, because no vehicles are allowed in the rear area. Marching groups assemble between 3 and 4:15 p.m., and all participant drop-offs close at 4:30.
The boats on St. Andrews Bay
Across the bridge, the boats start at St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club and travel west along the shoreline. They pass Historic Downtown Panama City, the Panama City Marina, West Beach Drive, the St. Andrews Marina, Historic St. Andrews and Sun Harbor Marina, then finish at the Hathaway Bridge. Destination Panama City lists the shorelines, both marinas and the waterfront bars and restaurants along the route as places to watch. The public votes for the best-decorated boat.
Bring chairs or blankets, because there's no event seating. Tents and glass aren't allowed. Downtown, parking includes street spaces plus lots at 8 Harrison Ave., 9 Harrison Ave., 36 Oak Ave., 413 Harrison Ave. behind the Martin Theatre, and 2–98 E. 6th St. Accessible parking is first come, first served.
The Holiday Village sits at the Downtown Panama City Marina. According to WJHG, the marina's boat ramp closed Oct. 10 after Hurricane Isaias damaged it, and it reopened once the stairs and dock were repaired.
Fitting both into one evening
The Pier Park parade starts at 5 p.m. sharp. The boat parade runs until 7:30, and its last stop is the Hathaway Bridge, the end of the route closest to the beach side. You can watch the floats leave Front Beach Road and then head toward the bay as the boats work west toward the bridge. Or you can spend the whole evening at one of them. If you're already familiar with the St. Andrews waterfront from a weekend in Historic St. Andrews, the boats pass the stretch you know best.
New Year's Eve brings the season back to the same park
The early part of the last night happens at the same park, and the midnight finish moves to Celebration Tower and Russell-Fields Pier. Visit Panama City Beach's New Year's Eve Beach Ball Drop page says the 2026 celebration adds space beyond Pier Park, "offering attendees more space to spread out." The full schedule is listed as coming soon.
These pieces are already set:
- 4 p.m. The Kids FUN Zone opens at Aaron Bessant Park with free slides, obstacle courses, bungee trampolines, friendship-bracelet stations and video games. The Little Mermen and Friends perform at the Kids Festival Site.
- 8 p.m. The first ball drops happen at Aaron Bessant Park and on Pier Park Drive, with fireworks and 15,000 beach balls split between the two spots. The page describes these drops as being for families with young children "or those too excited to wait until midnight."
- Late evening. The Will Thompson Band plays the Celebration Stage leading up to the countdown.
- Midnight. A beach ball nearly 10 feet across descends Celebration Tower, and a second round of fireworks launches from the end of Russell-Fields Pier.
Celebration Tower opened in 2016. Visit Panama City Beach's event page says the tower stands 10 feet taller than the pole on One Times Square, and it credits USA TODAY 10Best with naming the event the "Best New Year's Eve Drop." Visit Panama City Beach describes the Beach Ball Drop as free.
The early drop has two locations for the second year in a row. The 2025 schedule also had 8 p.m. drops and free kids' activities at both Aaron Bessant Park and Pier Park Drive. If you live nearby and have kids who won't last until midnight, you can do the whole evening at the park and still be home before the late crowd fills Pier Park.
For more on what else changed around Pier Park this year, see our look at the new development around Pier Park City Center.
If the holidays have you thinking about what your Panama City Beach condo or home would sell for in 2026, or what you could buy closer to Aaron Bessant Park, The Gene Team can help you sort it out. Get Your Free Home Valuation and we'll follow up with real numbers before the new year.
