Washtenaw County does not run a single ticketed light display.
Not one. No drive-through, no walk-through, nothing you buy a ticket for. Every lit route within an evening of Ann Arbor is in somebody else’s county: Lenawee, Wayne, Oakland. What Washtenaw has instead is six free tree lightings and parades, and five of the six fall on the same two nights.
So this splits cleanly. There is the drive, which costs money and happens elsewhere, and there is the walk, which is free and happens here. The useful thing is knowing which nights are already taken.
Every date, hour and price below was read off the organiser’s own page in the last 48 hours. That matters more than usual this year, because a lot of what is currently published about holiday lights in this area is still showing last season’s calendar.
The 2026 calendar, up front
| Display | Town | Drive | 2026 dates | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wayne County Lightfest | Westland | 30 min | 19 Nov to 24 Dec, Wed to Sun | 5 dollars a car |
| Wild Lights | Royal Oak | 45 min | Selected nights, 21 Nov to 3 Jan | 17 to 25 online |
| Nite Lites | Brooklyn | 45 min | 26 Nov to 3 Jan, nightly | 37 dollars a car |
| Holiday Nights | Dearborn | 35 min | 21 evenings, 3 to 28 Dec | 39 to 48 a person |
| Light Up Dexter | Dexter | 15 min | Fri 4 Dec, 6pm | Free |
| Chelsea tree lighting | Chelsea | 20 min | Fri 4 Dec | Free |
| Midnight Madness | Ann Arbor | 0 | Fri 4 Dec, 5pm to midnight | Free |
| Chelsea Light Parade | Chelsea | 20 min | Sat 5 Dec, 6pm | Free |
| Saline Holiday Parade | Saline | 15 min | Sat 5 Dec, 5pm lighting | Free |
| Milan Holiday Parade | Milan | 20 min | Sat 5 Dec | Free |
| Manchester Christmas in the Village | Manchester | 30 min | Sat 5 Dec | Free |
Read this before you plan anything: the two nights problem
Friday 4 December 2026 has three events on it. Midnight Madness in downtown Ann Arbor, Light Up Dexter in Monument Park, and Chelsea’s tree lighting at Pierce Park. All three are evening events. Light Up Dexter lights its tree at 6pm and Midnight Madness puts Santa on Main Street from 7pm to 9pm, so Dexter then Ann Arbor is the one pairing that actually works, and it is a 15 minute drive between them.
Saturday 5 December 2026 has four parades on it. Chelsea, Saline, Milan and Manchester. Chelsea steps off at 6pm and Saline lights its tree at 5pm, which means those two are mutually exclusive unless you only want half of each.
Nothing else in the free local calendar is on any other night. If you have one December evening and you want the small-town version, it is 4 or 5 December, and the choice is which town.
The ticketed displays are the opposite problem. They run for weeks, so they are never the constraint. Which is why the sane plan is to put a free local lighting on the one night it exists, and fit the drive-throughs around it.
The cheapest lit drive: five dollars
Wayne County Lightfest
Five miles of Hines Park, lit, from your car, entering at 7651 N Merriman Rd in Westland, 2.5 miles south of I-96. Thirty minutes east.
Five dollars a car. That is the entire reason this is first. The other drive-throughs within range are 37 dollars, so this is the one to pick when the point is getting out of the house for an hour rather than making a night of it. Commercial vans, RVs and limos are 20, a 20-passenger minibus 25, a 40-plus bus 50.
The 2026 season is 19 November to 24 December, Wednesday through Sunday, 6pm to 10pm, with two bonus nights on Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 December. It is in its 33rd year. Halfway along there is a stop at Perrin Park with food trucks and a walk-through gift box.
Tickets cost the same at the gate as prepaid, so there is nothing to gain by booking ahead. Prepaid goes through (734) 261-1990 with cash, check, Visa or Mastercard.
5 dollars a car. 19 Nov to 24 Dec 2026, Wednesday to Sunday 6pm to 10pm, plus Monday 21 and Tuesday 22 December. Entrance 7651 N Merriman Rd, Westland. Phone (734) 261-1990. These dates, hours and fees were read off Wayne County’s own Lightfest page on 26 October 2026. That domain has since started refusing this server, so phone before driving out if you are going on one of the bonus nights.
The longest lit drive: 6.5 miles
Nite Lites at Michigan International Speedway
The light route around the Michigan International Speedway oval at 12626 US-12 in Brooklyn runs approximately 6.5 miles, which makes it the longest drive-through in reach of Ann Arbor by a wide margin. You stay in the car the whole way. About 45 minutes west on US-12.
Thirty-seven dollars a standard vehicle, one ticket per car load, so this gets cheaper the fuller the car is. Limos, motorhomes and minibuses are 50, a tour bus 100. Train rides run Thursday to Sunday at 15 dollars a person, booked separately from the drive.
The 2026 Christmas season is 26 November through 3 January 2027, and unlike everything else here it runs every single night. Sunday to Thursday 5:30pm to 9pm, Friday and Saturday 5:30pm to 10pm.
That nightly schedule is the thing worth knowing. This is the only display in the region you can decide on at 6pm on a random Tuesday in December.
37 dollars a car. 26 Nov 2026 to 3 Jan 2027, nightly. Sun to Thu 5:30pm to 9pm, Fri and Sat 5:30pm to 10pm. Train rides Thu to Sun, 15 dollars a person. 12626 US-12, Brooklyn. Phone (517) 592-6666. Verified first-party 28 Oct 2026.
Brooklyn is in Lenawee County’s direction rather than Washtenaw’s, and the drive out US-12 is the same route plenty of people here already take for a day out. Worth the drive is a fair description.
The two you walk instead of drive
Sitting in a line of cars is the thing that ruins a light display for small children, who want to be out of the seat. Both of these solve that, and they are the two most expensive options here, which is not a coincidence.
Wild Lights at the Detroit Zoo
Lit animal sculptures across the zoo at 8450 W 10 Mile Rd in Royal Oak, on foot. Roughly 45 minutes.
The detail that catches people is that it does not run every night. November is the 21st, 22nd and 27th to 29th. December is the 4th to 6th, 10th to 23rd and 26th to 31st. January is the 2nd and 3rd. Friday and Saturday run 5pm to 10:30pm, every other night 5pm to 9pm.
Seventeen to 25 dollars booked online against 27 at the gate, so booking ahead saves real money here, which is not true of Lightfest. Parking is 8 dollars a vehicle on top. Everyone aged two and up needs a ticket.
17 to 25 dollars online, 27 at the gate, plus 8 dollars parking. Selected nights 21 Nov 2026 to 3 Jan 2027. Fri and Sat 5pm to 10:30pm, all other nights 5pm to 9pm. 8450 W 10 Mile Rd, Royal Oak. Phone (248) 541-5717. Verified first-party 28 Oct 2026.
Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village
The biggest ticketed holiday evening within an hour of Ann Arbor, and the one with a deadline attached. Greenfield Village at 20900 Oakwood Blvd in Dearborn, lamplit, 35 minutes east on I-94.
You walk a 19th-century village rather than a light route: decorated historic homes, carolers, free horse-drawn wagon rides, free Model T rides, free ice skating with the skate rental included, and a fireworks finale and sing-along to close each night. New for 2026 is the Dr. Sullivan and Mrs. Richie Jean Sherrod Jackson Home, set at Christmas 1965, and the first house in the village to carry exterior Christmas lights.
The 2026 run is 21 evenings, not a season: 3 to 6 December, 10 to 13 December, 17 to 23 December and 26 to 28 December. Gates 6:30pm to 10pm, with member early entry at 6pm. Thirty-nine to 48 dollars for the public, 33.25 to 40.75 for members, priced by night, so the cheap nights are the early-December weekdays.
Write down the on-sale date rather than the event date. Member presale opened 28 October 2026. Public tickets go on sale 4 November 2026. The December Saturdays go first, and once they are gone the only thing left is the weekdays, which is fine, but it is a different evening.
Standard parking is 10 dollars for the public and free for members.
39 to 48 dollars public, 33.25 to 40.75 members, plus 10 dollars parking. 3 to 6, 10 to 13, 17 to 23 and 26 to 28 December 2026, 6:30pm to 10pm. Public tickets on sale 4 November 2026. 20900 Oakwood Blvd, Dearborn. Phone (313) 982-6001. Verified first-party 28 Oct 2026.
The free ones, which are all in Washtenaw and all on two nights
Light Up Dexter
Monument Park in the middle of Dexter village, Friday 4 December 2026. Santa counts down and the tree goes on at 6pm. Photos with Santa, balloon animals, kids crafts, craft vendors, and free hot chocolate and cookies at the gazebo. Run by the Dexter Area Chamber of Commerce, (734) 325-4030.
Fifteen minutes from Ann Arbor, and the closest thing to a real small-town tree lighting that is also an easy drive.
One of the trees in the park is the Dexter District Library’s, and it is decorated by whoever turns up: the library runs an ornament-decorating session on Wednesday 4 November 2026, 10am to 12pm, in its lower-level meeting room, specifically to make the ornaments for it. If you have children and a free Wednesday morning in November, that is the version where they point at their own ornament in December.
Monument Park | Dexter District Library
Light Up Dexter: free, Friday 4 December 2026, tree at 6pm, Monument Park, Dexter. Dexter District Library, 3255 Alpine St: Mon to Fri 9am to 9pm, Sat 9am to 5pm, Sun 1pm to 5pm, verified first-party 28 Oct 2026. Ornament session Wed 4 Nov 2026, 10am to 12pm.
Chelsea’s Hometown Holiday
Chelsea splits its holiday across two nights and both are worth knowing, because they are different events.
The tree lighting is Friday 4 December 2026, at Pierce Park, 901 S Main St. Santa does the lighting. In 2025 this ran 5pm to 6:30pm, and the 2026 start time was not posted when this was checked, so treat 5pm as likely and not confirmed.
The Light Parade is Saturday 5 December 2026 at 6pm, lineup at 5pm, running along Main Street in Chelsea from Old US 12 to E Middle St. This is the lit-float one.
Chelsea keeps going after that: a gingerbread house display downtown from 1 December, a craft show and donuts with Santa on 12 December, and Holiday on Ice at the Biggby Ice Cube on 19 December.
Both free. Tree lighting Friday 4 December 2026, Pierce Park, 901 S Main St, Chelsea. Light Parade Saturday 5 December 2026, 6pm, Main St from Old US 12 to E Middle St. Dates verified first-party on Chelsea’s own Hometown Holiday calendar, 28 Oct 2026. A widely linked local write-up still dates the tree lighting to 5 December, which was the 2025 date.
Midnight Madness, downtown Ann Arbor
Friday 4 December 2026, 5pm to midnight, across Main Street, State Street and Kerrytown. Stores open late, sales, entertainment. Santa and hot cocoa on Main Street 7pm to 9pm, a cocktail crawl 5pm to 11pm, Voices in Harmony singing 6pm to 8pm, Pioneer choirs 8pm to 10pm, and the Hands-On Museum open 6pm to 9pm.
This is the one night of the year the downtown retail clock does not apply. We counted the State Street district’s doors earlier this autumn and found the retail layer’s close never passes 7pm on any day of the week, against a 10pm median for the food layer. On 4 December that inverts and the shops are the thing that is open late. If you have been meaning to do the downtown shops after work and never managed it, this is the date.
The State Street guide has the door-by-door hours for the rest of the year, and the Kerrytown guide covers the third district.
Free. Friday 4 December 2026, 5pm to midnight. Main Street, State Street and Kerrytown. Times verified first-party on the Main Street Area Association’s own page, 28 Oct 2026.
Saline, Milan and Manchester
All three are Saturday 5 December 2026, which is the same night as Chelsea’s parade.
Saline does a tree lighting at 5pm at the corner of Michigan Avenue and N Ann Arbor Street, with the high school choir and the Dance Alliance, the mayor as emcee, then the Merry Mile run, then the parade with over 100 participants, then Santa at The 109 Cultural Exchange. Fifteen minutes from Ann Arbor and the most packed single evening on this list. Run by the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce.
Milan runs a holiday parade downtown, 20 minutes south.
Manchester does Christmas in the Village, which bundles a tree lighting with craft shows, 30 minutes west.
If you are in Saline afterwards, Salt Springs Brewery is at 117 S Ann Arbor St, a block from the tree, and runs until 9pm on a Saturday.
All free. Saturday 5 December 2026. Saline tree lighting 5pm, Michigan Ave at N Ann Arbor St. Dates are Destination Ann Arbor’s 2026 calendar; Saline’s 5pm lighting time and running order are the Saline Area Chamber’s own page. Saline’s parade step-off time was not posted on 28 Oct 2026. Salt Springs Brewery: closed Monday, Tue and Wed 11:30am to 8pm, Thu 11:30am to 8:30pm, Fri and Sat 11:30am to 9pm, Sun 11:30am to 8pm, verified first-party 28 Oct 2026.
Two things not announced yet, as of 28 October
Worth saying plainly rather than guessing, because both get published with invented dates every year.
The Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo is the largest display in easy reach that is not in Michigan, about 55 minutes south. Its page said only “Check back soon for more information!” on 28 October 2026. No 2026 dates, hours or prices are published. Do not book a Toledo evening on a date you read somewhere else.
Ypsilanti’s two tree lightings have not posted 2026 dates either. The Depot Town lighting has historically run the Sunday before Thanksgiving, which would be 22 November 2026, and the downtown one at the Ypsilanti District Library plaza, 229 W Michigan Ave, has run the first Friday or Saturday of December, which would be 4 or 5 December. Both are pattern, not confirmation. Ypsilanti also runs HoliFest on the first three Saturdays of December and a DIYpsi holiday market the second weekend.
Riverside Park in Depot Town is the venue for the Depot Town lighting, and the Depot Town guide covers what is around it.
The one you might be remembering
If you have a memory of driving out to Domino’s Farms on Plymouth Road to see Christmas lights, that memory is real and it is at least 25 years old.
The St. Nicholas light display at Domino’s Farms ran for years and 2001 was its last season. The office park cancelled it in 2002 when it reconfigured the buildings and no longer had the indoor space. It has not returned. Nothing is lit out there in December now, and it still comes up when people in Ann Arbor talk about holiday lights, which is how a 25-year-old tradition becomes a wasted drive.
Making an evening of it
A tree lighting is 30 minutes long. The rest of the evening is yours to fill, and in December in Michigan it needs to be indoors.
In Dexter, before or after Light Up Dexter, Erratic Ale Co. at 8080 Grand St Suite 3 is a three minute walk from Monument Park and runs until 10pm on a Friday. It is a coffee bar in the morning and a taproom at night, with the barista on until 4pm.
Erratic Ale Co.: Tuesday to Saturday 7am to 10pm, Sunday 7am to 6pm, closed Monday. No alcohol until noon on Sunday. Verified first-party 28 Oct 2026.
Pick up the tree on the same trip. Two of the farms near here open the weekend of 21 and 22 November, before any of this starts, and Schell Family Farm in Pinckney is open daily through the season. The full set, sorted by opening date and whether your card works, is in the Christmas tree farm guide. One farm on that list takes cash only, which is the kind of thing worth knowing before you drive out.
If you want the skating without the 48 dollar ticket, Holiday Nights includes it but so does every rink in the county for a fraction of the price. The ice skating guide has the rinks, their seasons and their public-session times.
And if 4 December is simply not available to you, Nite Lites is the answer, because it is the only thing here that runs every night of the season.
The short version
– Cheapest lit drive: Wayne County Lightfest, 5 dollars a car, Westland, 19 Nov to 24 Dec
– Longest lit drive: Nite Lites, 6.5 miles, 37 dollars a car, Brooklyn, and the only nightly one
– Best with small children: Wild Lights, on foot, Royal Oak, but check the night is running
– Biggest evening, and buy early: Holiday Nights, Greenfield Village, public on-sale 4 November
– Closest free tree lighting: Light Up Dexter, Monument Park, Friday 4 December, 6pm
– The night downtown Ann Arbor stays open: Midnight Madness, Friday 4 December, 5pm to midnight
– Busiest free evening: Saline, Saturday 5 December, lighting at 5pm
– Do not drive to: Domino’s Farms. The display ended after 2001.
Dates, hours and prices here were read off each organiser’s own page on 28 October 2026, except Wayne County Lightfest, read 26 October before that site began refusing this server. December hours move. If a trip depends on one of them, phone the number printed with it.
More of what is on in any given week is in the Ann Arbor weekend guide.
And if what you want from that same weekend is shopping rather than lights, the holiday markets guide has every 2026 market date, including the two Kerrytown markets that run weekly right through December.
