The Christmas Extravaganza runs from 9am on Saturday 28 November, the parade sets off at noon and the lights come on at 6pm. Plus Wantage's Dickensian date.

Abingdon’s Christmas lights are switched on at 6pm on Saturday 28 November 2026, at the end of the Christmas Extravaganza. The day itself starts at 9am and the town centre is busy from then, so the switch-on is the finish rather than the event.

The date is confirmed on the organiser’s own site. Abingdon Events Partnership writes that “the Christmas Extravaganza will be back on Saturday 28th November 2026” and that it runs “from 9AM in the town centre”. Admission is free.

The running order

The organiser has published a full programme. It carries its own warning that “all times listed below are subject to change”, and several afternoon slots are listed as times with no act named yet.

Time What
9am Bath Street Christmas Market opens: craftworkers, charity stalls, artisan food and Christmas gifts
9am to 11.30am Abbey Brass Band, Bath Street performance area
10am to 4.30pm Christmas crafts and activities at the Community Shop, 25 Bury Street, the former Gift Centre
12 noon The parade sets off around the town centre
about 12.20pm The parade returns to the Market Place
12.30pm Oxford Caledonian Pipe and Drum Band, Market Place stage
4pm Bath Street market and performance area close
5pm Main act performance, Market Place
5.45pm The switch-on ceremony starts on the Market Place stage
6pm The Christmas lights are switched on. The main act then continues
6.30pm Market Place stalls close

The parade route, in the programme’s own order: it starts at noon and takes in Stert Street, East St Helen Street, Lombard Street, West St Helen’s Street and the High Street, arriving back at the Market Place at around 12.20pm.

Elsewhere on the day: the donkeys from Island Farm Donkey Sanctuary are at the end of Bath Street, sponsored by Frend and Co. Bury Street Shopping Centre has a balloon modeller, a special guest and Father Christmas across the day, between 9am and 6pm. The Community Shop at 25 Bury Street doubles as a comfortable space for nappy changes and breastfeeding from 10am to 4.30pm, run by Girlguiding Abingdon Division.

The Market Place stage has five morning slots at 9am, 9.40am, 10.15am, 10.45am and 11.20am, and seven afternoon slots from 1pm, and the Bath Street performance area has seven afternoon slots from 12.30pm. None of the acts filling them had been named when this page was written.

Who runs it, and the money problem

The lights themselves come from Abingdon Town Council, which provides the Christmas tree and light displays in the main town centre streets and switches them on “at the annual Christmas Extravaganza event at the end of November or start of December”. The council says the lights are on a rolling renewal programme, are stored and safety-checked each year, and are energy efficient.

The day around them is run by Abingdon Events Partnership and a community steering group, which brought the Extravaganza back after it lapsed. The partnership is open about the position it is in. Its Extravaganza site states: “We need new sponsors and supporters for 2026 if we are to be able to continue to offer this as a community event, free to all.” Sponsors confirmed so far are Mays Properties at Fairacres Retail Park, Wenn Townsend, Frend and Co, Bath Street Dental Practice, Kingfisher Barn and Mantle.

Road closures are not published yet

No traffic order for 28 November had been published when this page was written. Oxfordshire County Council’s large public events pages, read on 5 September 2026, list orders for the Abingdon Michaelmas Fair and the Abingdon Marathon but nothing for the Extravaganza. A parade that runs the length of Stert Street, East St Helen Street, Lombard Street, West St Helen’s Street and the High Street at midday clearly needs the town centre stopped, so expect a notice in November.

We will add the closure times here when the county council publishes them. In the meantime, car park tariffs and the three that charge on a Sunday are on our parking page, and live disruption is on the roadworks and travel page.

Wantage: Dickensian Evening, Friday 4 December

The Vale’s other big festive night is Wantage’s Dickensian Evening, on Friday 4 December 2026 from 4pm to 9pm, and it carries Wantage’s own Christmas lights switch-on. Entry is free. It is organised by the Dickensian Committee with support from Bushbuy and Wantage Leisure Centre.

Published so far:

  • Parish church, 5.30pm to 9pm. KS1 pupils from Wantage CE School sing at 5.30pm. Mulled wine, mince pies, hot chocolate, a chocolate tombola, craft, gift and book stalls, a candle-lit nativity scene and a quiet reflection space.
  • Vale and Downland Museum, 4pm to 9pm. Live music from the Hendred Ukulele Group and Greengage, a tombola, market stalls and refreshments. Father Christmas visits run 4pm to 8pm, must be booked, and cost £6 per child.

Parking is the useful part. Vale of White Horse District Council car parks in Wantage are free from 6pm on the night, restrictions in the Limborough Road car parks are lifted from 4pm to 10pm, and there is overflow parking on the tennis courts at Wantage Leisure Centre.

No Abingdon pantomime this winter

There is no pantomime in Abingdon in the 2026 to 2027 season. Abingdon Drama Club produces three shows a year at the Unicorn Theatre and a pantomime every other year, and its published autumn production is 1984, adapted by Nick Hern, at All Saints Church in Sutton Courtenay on 28, 29, 30 and 31 October at 7.30pm, tickets £15 or £12 concessions from The Bookstore on Bury Street. Nothing festive follows it on the club’s What’s On page.

Sources