The simple way to think about Pompano's holiday season is three layers: the city's own event board, the Cultural Center campus, and the beachfront and Intracoastal. The season used to start after Thanksgiving; now it starts with the market season and the MLK corridor lights in late November, then runs through a full December board into the January markets. None of what follows is an endorsement of any event; it is the calendar as published, with sources so you can check each item yourself.
The season opens: Light Up MLK and the Green Market
November 28: the season formally kicks off with Light Up MLK at 5:00 PM along the MLK corridor, per the city's own holiday-season announcement, the first of the corridor's holiday celebrations. The same morning, the Green Market's second date of the season runs 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Cultural Center campus, 50 W Atlantic Boulevard. The market's full 2026-27 run is the second and fourth Saturdays through April: November 14 opened the season, November 28 and December 12 follow, the December 12 edition is billed as the Holiday Edition, and the December 26 market is closed for the holiday, with the season resuming January 9.
December 3: Yuletide on Atlantic
December 3, 6:00 to 9:30 PM: Yuletide on Atlantic, the city's holiday parade along East Atlantic Boulevard from Riverside Drive west to SE 24th Avenue. The city's event page lists it as free; floats, marching units, and lights route through the downtown corridor, which makes it the natural warm-up for the tree lighting the next night. Parade routes and times are confirmed on the city's events page closer to the date.
December 4: the tree lighting, at Old Town Untapped's Holiday Edition
December 4: the city's holiday tree lighting happens inside its most popular street party. Old Town Untapped holds its Holiday Edition Friday, December 4 from 6:00 to 10:00 PM on NE 1st Street in Old Town, around Bailey Contemporary Arts at 41 NE 1st Street, with the Untapped Tree Lighting Ceremony at 6:00 PM and the seasonal entertainment billed as "Waist to Chest: A Christmas Spectacular." Santa, arts and crafts, food trucks, and the gallery scene are all part of the same block, per the city and parks event listings. It is free and family-friendly, and it is the one night that combines the tree, the market-art scene, and live music in a single block.
December 6: Hanukkah at the Palm Aire Gazebo, and the Nutcracker in Old Town
December 6, 4:00 to 7:00 PM: the Festival of Lights: A Hanukkah Celebration, a free community celebration on the city's parks calendar at the Palm Aire Gazebo. This is the one that matters most to the neighborhood this site covers: it happens inside Palm Aire, the same community as the listing, and it is a small example of what a changing Pompano looks like in practice, a holiday celebration held in a neighborhood that was conceived as a golf community.
December 6, 6:30 to 9:30 PM: the Duke Ellington Nutcracker & Holiday Cabaret at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center, 50 W Atlantic Boulevard, a ticketed evening (from $15) combining the Duke Ellington Nutcracker suite with a holiday cabaret, per the city's event page. It sits on the same campus as the Green Market, so a December 12 morning at the market and a holiday evening at the center is an easy paired outing.
December 10-12: poetry, then the boat parade, then the holiday market
December 10-12: the 9th Annual Exit 36 Slam Poetry Festival, the city's annual spoken-word gathering, runs its multi-day program in the Cultural Center district. December 11 is the headliner of the season: the 64th Annual Greater Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce Holiday Boat Parade steps off at 6:00 PM, departing Lake Santa Barbara and running north on the Intracoastal through Pompano Beach, Lighthouse Point, and Deerfield Beach under the theme "A Party in the U.S.A." in honor of the nation's 250th anniversary, with 50-plus decorated boats and free waterfront viewing at the city's parks along the route, including North Riverside Park and the NE 16th Street Park. The Chamber also sells paid experiences, a Boat Experience and a VIP Waterfront Viewing Party, listed on the event page.
December 12: the Green Market's Holiday Edition runs 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and the Deck the Halls Dance takes the Emma Lou Olson Civic Center for the evening. The parks department also runs Donuts with Santa sessions through the month; those are listed on the parks events calendar as dates are set.
What it means for the area
The holiday calendar is a clean way to see the direction the city has taken. A decade ago, Pompano Beach's winter calendar was thin; this year the board holds a corridor lighting kickoff, a downtown parade, a tree-lighting block party, a Hanukkah celebration in Palm Aire, a jazz-inflected Nutcracker, a slam poetry festival, a 64-year-old boat parade, and a holiday market edition, most of it on the public calendar and much of it free. That is the same story the census, the job counts, and the build tell: a city that stopped being a drive-through and started being a place where the calendar fills itself.
None of that is a price forecast, and none of it is hype. It is simply the published schedule, dated and sourced, with the one honest caveat that event times, venues, and availability change, so confirm with the city or the venue before you plan around any date on this page.
The bottom line for the holidays.
Pompano's holiday season is a full board: Light Up MLK and the market finale before December, the Yuletide parade and the tree lighting the first week, Hanukkah at the Palm Aire Gazebo, the Nutcracker cabaret, and the boat parade's 64th run mid-month. The listing at 2901 S Palm Aire Drive #610 is inside the community that hosts one of those celebrations, with the golf-and-lake view as the backdrop. Call or Text Ryan: 561-915-8590 for a tour. Co-listed with Helen Katz, Coldwell Banker Realty.
Sources
- City of Pompano Beach · 'Tis the Season for Holiday Magic in Pompano Beach
- City of Pompano Beach · Yuletide on Atlantic (Dec 3)
- City of Pompano Beach · Old Town Untapped, Holiday Edition (Dec 4)
- Pompano Beach Parks & Recreation · Untapped Tree Lighting Ceremony (Dec 4)
- Pompano Beach Parks & Recreation · Events (Festival of Lights, Donuts with Santa)
- City of Pompano Beach · Duke Ellington Nutcracker and Holiday Cabaret (Dec 6)
- City of Pompano Beach · 64th Annual Holiday Boat Parade (Dec 11)
- City of Pompano Beach · A Party in the U.S.A. Lights Up the Intracoastal
- City of Pompano Beach · Green Market (season and holiday dates)
- Pompano Beach Arts · Green Market monthly dates
- Pompano Beach Arts · 9th Annual Exit 36 Slam Poetry Festival
By
Ryan Parker · Realtor, Coldwell Banker Realty
Sales Associate · SL3571861 · Florida. Co-listed with Helen Katz. 2026-11-11 · Event dates, times, availability, and venues change; confirm each item on the city's or venue's live pages before planning around it.