Where Loveland's Holiday Season Went After Winter Wonderlights
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
"Rather than big platforms that people have to walk around, it'll be a nice open space with fire pits that people will be able to navigate, shop around, and be able to view their children and their grandchildren skate much easier than they can right now." That was Steve Doran of Galway Companies describing the ice rink his crews are tearing out at the Promenade Shops at Centerra, in a Loveland Reporter-Herald story from October 6.
His point was about rink design, but it also describes Loveland's whole 2026 holiday season. The city no longer has one big ticketed event that draws visitors. It has two places that were rebuilt for people who come back every week: downtown's new Fourth Street and Centerra's lights and rink, which are run by the community. This season is the first time both are ready for the holidays at the same time.
Visit Loveland announced in August 2025 that Winter Wonderlights would not return to Chapungu Sculpture Park that season. According to the Reporter-Herald's coverage, the decision followed a tourism study and other data showing that events produce a short-term boost but don't necessarily lead to sustained spending in the city or repeat visits.
The lights at Chapungu came back anyway, under a different organizer. Centerra started the All Is Bright Tour that same season, running November 14, 2025 through January 1, 2026. Its event page names the Centerra Engagement Assembly as the lead community organizer, working with the Centerra Metropolitan Districts, Visit Loveland, the Centerra Commercial Owners Association and the Promenade Shops.
Downtown spent the same months finishing the street that its own holiday event depends on. Together, those two changes explain this year's calendar.
| Date | Event | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Nov. 13, 5–7 p.m. | Flip the Switch Ceremony | Chapungu Sculpture Park |
| Nov. 13 – Jan. 1, daily | All Is Bright Tour | Hub Café, Chapungu, and other Centerra sites |
| Nov. 20, 5–8 p.m. | Festival of Lights with Floats on 4th | Fourth Street, downtown |
| Nov. 20–22 | Applewood Arts Holiday Festival | The Ranch Events Complex, 5280 Arena Circle |
| Dec. 5, 11 a.m.–3 p.m. | Visit Loveland holiday market | Loveland Visitor Center |
| Dec. 11, 5:30–7:30 p.m. | Reindeer visit | Promenade Shops at Centerra |
| Dec. 11–31, 5–8 p.m. | Christmas Walk in the Woods | 1750 Savage Road |
| Dec. 12 | Breakfast with Santa, photos, skating with Buddy and Jovie, Sleigh Bell Shuffle | Promenade Shops and Chapungu |
| Dec. 19 | Breakfast with Santa, photos, skating with Anna and Elsa | Promenade Shops |
The Centerra dates come from Centerra's holiday page, updated October 9. The Festival of Lights details are on the Loveland Downtown District's event page. Applewood lists its Holiday Festival dates on its Loveland page. Christmas Walk in the Woods runs nightly except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The first phase of the city's Heart Improvement Plan, called HIP Streets, covers five blocks of Fourth Street from Garfield Avenue to Washington Avenue. Loveland Water and Power is upgrading the utilities under the road while the streetscape above is rebuilt. The plan calls for replacing aging infrastructure, reconstructing the road and sidewalks, and adding ADA-compliant sidewalks, new lighting, trees, planters, seating and expanded patios. Construction started in February 2025 with the two blocks between Lincoln and Washington, which wrapped up that November. Crews then moved block by block.
The Downtown District's page calls this "the newly completed 4th Street." The city's own update is more careful. Its weekly HIP Streets update for October 12–18 says Block 4, between Cleveland and Railroad, is still closed to vehicles while crews finish punch-list items, though businesses there are open to pedestrians. The BNSF railroad crossing at Fourth Street is fully closed to vehicles, and crews are paving at the Railroad Avenue intersection. The project is on track to finish in November. That makes the November 20 Festival of Lights both the street's first holiday event and roughly its finish line.
The fall events have already been testing the street. Today's seventh annual Pumpkin Festival is spread across three renovated Fourth Street blocks between North Railroad and Jefferson. The Downtown Loveland Zombie Crawl meets at Loveland Aleworks on October 17 before moving through downtown. Festival of Lights is a bigger version of the same use. Floats on 4th returns for a second year as a stationary parade. Floats park along both sides of the street, the center stays open for walking, and marching bands and dancers move through the crowd. The Valentine Flea's holiday art market adds more than 30 booths of local makers and vintage vendors. A parade where people walk the street instead of lining the curb depends on wide, level, well-lit pavement, and the rebuild provides it.
The Downtown District directory lists these food and drink spots on or near the rebuilt blocks:
The directory is undated, so call ahead before planning a festival-night dinner around any one of these.
The All Is Bright Tour runs every day from November 13 to January 1. Centerra describes a route that starts with hot cocoa from the Hub Café, continues with a lighted nature walk and a scavenger hunt for presents hidden among the lights at Chapungu, and then sends visitors driving to other lit spots around Centerra. That fits Visit Loveland's finding. Winter Wonderlights was a single destination. This tour is spread across a whole district and open every night for seven weeks.
The rink follows the same idea. Galway Companies, which bought the 494,500-square-foot Promenade Shops last year, is replacing the old platforms with a landscaped multipurpose area that has fire pits and is meant for use in summer and winter. The Reporter-Herald says it is expected to be finished by November, in time for the holidays. The same renovation adds new roofs on 10 buildings, more outdoor seating, property-wide Wi-Fi and new lighting. MINISO, Christopher & Banks and Windsor are opening this fall, and JD Sports, Hot Topic, BoxLunch, Cabinet IQ, Hot Pot Grill and Los Dos Potrillos are expected by spring 2027.
Two details aren't settled yet. Galway hasn't announced an opening day for the rink, and the rink's website still shows last season's hours and prices. Centerra's 2026 page also doesn't list nightly hours for the light tour. The character skates are firm, though: Buddy and Jovie from "Elf" on December 12, and Anna and Elsa from "Frozen" on December 19, both from 1 to 3 p.m.
Downtown opens the season with one big night. Centerra spreads its season across many smaller ones. The busiest stretches come where those two approaches overlap:
Some of downtown's rebuild won't be finished for the holidays. On September 30, a contracted worker struck a support beam inside 225 E. Fourth, the building planned for a Rio Grande restaurant, and part of the interior roof collapsed. No one was hurt. Independence Gallery and Lighthouse Dance next door were evacuated and closed until the building could be shored up and cleared as safe. As of an October 6 report, both were still closed with no estimate for reopening. Lighthouse Dance was holding classes in borrowed spaces. The city's update lists a sidewalk closure at that address.
The Dug and Firkin, a brewpub serving British-style ales and food, was expected to open at 243 E. Fourth later in 2026, according to a July column by Downtown Development District executive director Sean Hawkins. No opening has been announced. "Bloom" is coming later too. It's a 10-piece permanent installation by Jen Lewin that will run along Fourth Street from Garfield to North Lincoln, and Loveland Art in Public Places expects it to be finished in early 2027. The city's October update separately notes that permanent sculptures are being installed on Blocks 1, 2, 3 and 5, which may briefly close some parking spots.
That means this year's Festival of Lights takes place on a nearly finished street, with one storefront shored up, one brewpub still on the way, and the main public art piece due next year. Next year's Festival of Lights will be on the finished street.
If you're thinking about what downtown's new Fourth Street or Centerra's renovation means for a home nearby, the team at Bison Real Estate Group follows these projects block by block. Let's connect. Get your home valuation and see how Loveland's newest gathering places factor into it.
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