Saturday 21 November 2026 on The Square, 6pm to 9pm, with the lights on at 7pm. The full festive diary to 17 December, and parking and road closures on the night.
Market Harborough’s Christmas Lights Switch On is on Saturday 21 November 2026, on The Square, from 6pm to 9pm. The lights themselves go on at 7pm. Harborough District Council announced the date on Monday 12 October. (Harborough District Council, 12 October 2026)
Updated 18 October: the council’s Visit Harborough page now describes the evening as “street entertainment and performers, food and drink” with “the traditional countdown at 7pm” on The Square (Visit Harborough). No performers or road closures are named yet. The Christmas Fayre on 4 December now has its own page.
Updated 15 October: the Market Harborough Christmas Fayre 2026 is on Friday 4 December, 4.30pm to 9.15pm, free, across the town centre, with a funfair on the Commons car park. Details, and the other Christmas fairs nearby, are below. On 14 October the council confirmed the switch-on date and times.
The Christmas tree on The Square is again sponsored by Market Harborough Building Society and will be lit on the night. The council says it stays lit for visitors “during all hours of the day” after that.
Two things are different from the last two years:
- It starts an hour later. The 2023, 2024 and 2025 events all began at 5pm. This year’s runs from 6pm.
- The lights go on at 7pm, as in 2023, rather than the 6.30pm of 2024 and 2025.
The council has not yet published the entertainment line-up or the road closures. It says more details will be shared on its social media channels, and we will add them here.
The festive diary for 2026
The council published these key dates alongside the announcement:
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| Saturday 21 November | Market Harborough Christmas Lights Switch On, The Square, 6pm to 9pm, lights on at 7pm |
| Friday 27 November | Fab Friday: late-night shopping, Market Harborough |
| Friday 27 November | Lutterworth Christmas Light Switch On |
| Saturday 28 November | Artisan Fair on The Square |
| Thursday 3 December | Farmers' Market |
| Friday 4 December | Market Harborough Christmas Fayre, town centre, 4.30pm to 9.15pm |
| Saturday 5 December | Small Business Saturday |
| Saturday 5 December | Broughton Astley Christmas Fayre |
| Saturday 12 December | Artisan Fair on The Square |
| Thursday 17 December | Farmers' Market |
The council’s list gives the 12 December Artisan Fair as a Tuesday. 12 December 2026 is a Saturday, and Harborough Market’s own events calendar lists it as Saturday 12 December, so we have used that. The best festive window competition, voted for by the public, runs through the season again.
Market Harborough Christmas Fayre 2026: Friday 4 December
The Christmas Fayre is the town’s other big festive evening, a fortnight after the switch-on. The council lists it on its own events site, Visit Harborough, as:
- Friday 4 December 2026, 4.30pm to 9.15pm
- across Market Harborough town centre
- free entry
- craft, food and drink stalls, stilt walkers, live music, Santa’s grotto and the elves’ workshop, and a funfair on the Commons car park
(Visit Harborough, Market Harborough Christmas Fayre, and the council’s 12 October festive diary, both checked 15 October)
It is on a Friday again: the 2025 fayre was on Friday 5 December. With the funfair on the Commons car park, expect fewer spaces there that day; the parking page has the other car parks. The council has not published road closures for the fayre; we will add them if it does. The fayre now has its own page: Market Harborough Christmas Fayre.
Other Christmas fairs in and around Market Harborough
| Date | Fair | Where | Times and cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday 1 November | Craft and Shopping Fayre | The Three Swans, High Street | 10.30am to 3pm |
| Friday 27 November | Foxton Locks Inn Christmas Fair, with Santa’s grotto and a tree lights switch-on | The Foxton Locks Inn | 4pm to 8pm, free |
| Friday 27 to Sunday 29 November | Kelmarsh Hall Christmas Fair | Kelmarsh Hall, south of town on the A508 | 11am to 3pm, £10 a car, £2 on foot or by bike |
| Friday 27 November | Fab Friday late-night shopping | Market Harborough town centre | 6pm to 8pm, free |
| Saturday 28 November | Artisan Fair | The Square | 9am to 4pm |
| Friday 4 December | Market Harborough Christmas Fayre | town centre, funfair on the Commons car park | 4.30pm to 9.15pm, free |
| Sunday 6 December | Christmas Craft and Shopping Fayre, more than 30 stalls | The Three Swans Hotel, High Street | 10.30am to 3pm, free |
| Saturday 12 December | Artisan Fair | The Square | 9am to 4pm |
Sources: Visit Harborough event listings for the Three Swans fayres, the Foxton Locks Inn fair and Fab Friday; Kelmarsh Hall for its fair, where parking is on the event field followed by a 10 to 15 minute walk through the woodland; Harborough Market for the Artisan Fairs. All checked 15 October.
How it compares with previous years
| Year | Announced | Event | Lights on |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 26 September | Saturday 18 November, from 5pm | 7pm |
| 2024 | 4 October | Saturday 23 November, from 5pm | 6.30pm |
| 2025 | 15 October | Saturday 22 November, from 5pm | 6.30pm |
| 2026 | 12 October | Saturday 21 November, 6pm to 9pm | 7pm |
The pattern holds on the parts that matter. It is a Saturday in the second half of November on The Square. The start time has moved from 5pm to 6pm this year, and the lights go back to 7pm after two years at 6.30pm. The 2023 announcement was headlined on the move to a Saturday, which the council said was to “encourage a bigger footfall in the town centre” and to let people come without “rushing home from school or work”. (Harborough District Council, 26 September 2023)
This year’s announcement came on 12 October, inside the late September to mid-October window of the last three years.
What the evening usually involves
The 2026 line-up has not been published. From the council’s own write-ups of 2023, 2024 and 2025, the evening has included:
- The Christmas tree lit on the night, sponsored by Market Harborough Building Society
- Free street entertainment: stilt walkers, LED hula-hoopers, jugglers
- Father Christmas, and in 2024 a rodeo reindeer
- Live music through the evening, with Harborough FM playing and compering
- The best dressed shop window competition launched on the night and voted for by the public
- Baubles decorated by local primary school children on the tree, in 2023
Road closures
For the 2024 event the council closed three points from 4pm to 9pm: the bridge on Northampton Road, St Mary’s Road at the junction with Adam and Eve Street, and the junction of High Street and Coventry Road. (Harborough District Council, 31 October 2024)
The council did not repeat a closure list in its 2025 announcement, and its 2026 announcement has none either, so treat the 2024 list as the likely shape and not as this year’s notice. We will publish the real one when it appears.
Parking on the night
Council car parks charge only from 7am to 6pm, Monday to Saturday, and the event starts at 6pm, so parking from the start of the evening costs nothing in a council car park. Every council car park in the district is free all day on Sundays and bank holidays. Full tariffs and the free bays are on our Market Harborough parking page, and live closures are on the roadworks and travel page.
One thing that has not been repeated recently: in 2023 the council gave free parking on the four Saturdays before Christmas, announced on 25 October that year. It has not published the same offer since, so do not plan on it. (Harborough District Council, 25 October 2023)
Fireworks, and Lutterworth
If you want fireworks first, the Harborough Fireworks Spectacular is on Wednesday 4 November at the showground, and Lutterworth’s switch-on is on Friday 27 November, six days after Market Harborough’s, with a fireworks display of its own.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Market Harborough Christmas lights switch-on 2026?
Saturday 21 November 2026, on The Square, from 6pm to 9pm. Harborough District Council announced the date on 12 October 2026.
What time are the Market Harborough Christmas lights switched on?
At 7pm. The evening runs from 6pm to 9pm. In 2024 and 2025 the event started at 5pm and the lights went on at 6.30pm.
Where is the Market Harborough Christmas lights switch-on held?
The Square, Market Harborough, LE16 7PA, with the sponsored Christmas tree lit on the night.
When is the Market Harborough Christmas Fayre 2026?
Friday 4 December 2026, from 4.30pm to 9.15pm, across the town centre. Entry is free, with craft and food stalls, live music, stilt walkers, Santa’s grotto and a funfair on the Commons car park.
Is there a Christmas fair at the Three Swans in Market Harborough?
Yes, two. A Craft and Shopping Fayre on Sunday 1 November and a Christmas Craft and Shopping Fayre with more than 30 stalls on Sunday 6 December, both 10.30am to 3pm at the Three Swans on the High Street.
Is parking free for the switch-on?
Council car parks charge only from 7am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and the event starts at 6pm, so parking from 6pm costs nothing in a council car park. The free Saturday parking the council offered in December 2023 has not been repeated since.
Sources
- Harborough District Council, 12 October 2026: Market Harborough Christmas Lights Switch On kicks off the festive season, for the 2026 date, times, tree sponsor and festive key dates
- Council, 26 September 2023: switch-on moves to a Saturday
- Council, 4 October 2024 announcement and 31 October 2024, with road closures
- Council, 15 October 2025 announcement and festive key dates
- Harborough Market events calendar for the Artisan Fairs, 9am to 4pm
- Visit Harborough, Market Harborough Christmas Fayre, 4 December 2026, Harborough District Council’s events site, for the fayre’s times and attractions, and its listings for the Three Swans fayre on 6 December, the Foxton Locks Inn Christmas Fair and Fab Friday late-night shopping
- Council, 15 October 2025 diary, for the 2025 fayre on Friday 5 December
- Kelmarsh Hall, Christmas Fair 27 to 29 November 2026
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