Holiday Season in Palm Bay — Palm Bay, Florida

The City of Palm Bay holiday season runs from a Tree Lighting Ceremony on Friday, December 4, 2026 to Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 12, 2026, with the 2026 City of Palm Bay Holiday Light Parade in between (Palm Bay Recreation events).

Palm Bay Recreation lists the 2026 tree lighting from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM on December 4, the 2026 City of Palm Bay Holiday Light Parade at 6:00 PM on December 5, and Breakfast with Santa from 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM on December 12 (City of Palm Bay events calendar, read October 13, 2026). The same calendar bills the parade as the Biggest Holiday Parade on the Space Coast.

The 2025 column comes from the Palm Bay Recreation Holiday Events page for that season (Wayback capture of April 15, 2026; the live page now returns 404). As of October 13, 2026, the city calendar had not yet posted 2026 dates for Santa Calling, Trucks, Treats and Eats or the Family Christmas Extravaganza, so those rows show only the 2025 pattern. The full route and float details for the parade on Malabar Road belong to the parade itself; this page covers the rest of the Palm Bay December lineup.

Holiday dates on this Palm Bay page were last verified on October 13, 2026, against the Palm Bay Recreation events calendar and the 2025 Holiday Events page.

The Palm Bay Tree Lighting Ceremony is set for Friday, December 4, 2026, from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM (Palm Bay Recreation events); in 2025 it was held at Palm Bay City Hall, 120 Malabar Road (Palm Bay Holiday Events page).

In 2025 the ceremony started at 6:30 PM on Friday, December 5, at Palm Bay City Hall, with performances by the Odyssey Charter School Band, Palm Bay Elementary Little Pirates, Port Malabar Elementary and the Heritage High School Show Choir (Palm Bay Holiday Events page). After the lighting, pictures with Santa and crafts moved inside City Hall.

The location has moved between years. In December 2023 the tree went up at City Hall on Friday, December 1, followed by a screening of The Santa Clause (PG) on the city's giant outdoor movie screen (December 2023 Mayor's Message). In 2024 the ceremony moved to the Tony Rosa Community Center at 1502 Port Malabar Blvd NE on Friday, December 6 (December 2024 Mayor's Message), and the 2025 edition returned to City Hall on Malabar Road.

The tree lighting also works as a toy drive. In 2025 the city asked guests to bring an unwrapped toy for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation in exchange for a free light-up Christmas Tree wand, and refreshment sales went to United Way of Brevard (December 2025 Mayor's Message). The 2024 message carried the same United Way of Brevard and Toys for Tots arrangement at the Tony Rosa Community Center.

Breakfast with Santa is a Palm Bay Recreation and Palm Bay Police Department event at the Ted Whitlock Community Center that costs $5 per person, with children 2 and under free with a paying adult (Palm Bay Holiday Events page).

The 2026 Breakfast with Santa is listed for Saturday, December 12, from 8:30 AM to 11:00 AM, with a $5 entry fee (Palm Bay Recreation events). The 2025 edition ran on Saturday, December 13, during the same hours, inside Fred Poppe Regional Park, with pancakes and sausage, coffee, hot chocolate, orange juice, pastries, inflatables, games and crafts (Palm Bay Holiday Events page).

The Ted Whitlock Community Center sits at 370 Championship Cir. NW and is located inside Fred Poppe Regional Park, the 200-acre city park at 1951 Malabar Rd NW (Ted Whitlock Community Center; Fred Poppe Regional Park facility page). The city describes the building as an 18,000 sq. ft. community center with a gymnasium and a banquet room with a divider.

The date has followed the second Saturday of December in recent years. The 2024 city release placed Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 14, from 8:30 to 11 a.m. at 370 Championship Circle NW, at the same $5 price (City of Palm Bay holiday events release, November 26, 2024). The 2024 release and the 2025 Holiday Events page both reminded parents to bring cameras for photo ops with Santa.

Santa Calling is a free City of Palm Bay program in which Santa phones registered Palm Bay children on two December evenings, with sign-up online or at the Tony Rosa Community Center (Palm Bay Holiday Events page).

In 2025 the calls were made on Tuesday, December 16 or Wednesday, December 17, between 5 PM and 7:30 PM, and the registration deadline was Saturday, December 13 at 4 PM. Online registration opened November 12 under the special events category, and paper forms were available at the Tony Rosa Community Center at 1502 Port Malabar Blvd. NE, phone (321) 952-3443 (Palm Bay Holiday Events page; Tony Rosa Community Center).

The 2024 schedule followed the same shape: calls on Tuesday, December 17 and Wednesday, December 18 between 5 and 7:30 p.m., with registration closing Saturday, December 14 at 4 p.m., online through Play Online or in person at the Tony Rosa Community Center (City of Palm Bay holiday events release, November 26, 2024). In both years the 4 PM registration deadline fell on the same Saturday as Breakfast with Santa.

As of October 13, 2026, the Palm Bay Recreation calendar did not yet list 2026 Santa Calling dates; the 2025 and 2024 pattern points to the week after Breakfast with Santa, but the city sets the dates each year.

In 2025 the Palm Bay December calendar also held a Turkey Creek holiday market, Trucks, Treats and Eats at City Hall and the Family Christmas Extravaganza at Fred Poppe Regional Park (Palm Bay Holiday Events page).

The Turkey Creek Fall Art Show and Holiday Market took place on Saturday, November 29, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Tony Rosa Community Center, next to Turkey Creek Sanctuary, with over 70 local vendors, free admission and parking, and support from the Turkey Creek Sanctuary Society. That same day, Fred Lee Park hosted a free Movie in the Park showing A Muppet Christmas Carol after a 3 PM car show.

Trucks, Treats and Eats premiered at Palm Bay City Hall on Friday, December 12, 2025, from 5 to 8 PM, with local food trucks, a DJ and city fire trucks and public works vehicles open to explore (December 2025 Mayor's Message). Mayor Rob Medina described it as a new event in that message.

The Family Christmas Extravaganza is presented by the city in partnership with The House Church. The 17th edition ran on Saturday, December 20, 2025, from 10:00 AM to 3 PM at Fred Poppe Regional Park, free, with live entertainment, food, bounce houses, horse rides and, in 2025, a Ferris wheel and the Extravaganza's Got Talent contest with prizes of $1500, $1000 and $500 (December 2025 Mayor's Message). The 16th edition was on Saturday, December 21, 2024, from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the same Malabar Road park (City of Palm Bay holiday events release), and the 15th was on December 16, 2023 (December 2023 Mayor's Message).

Palm Bay holiday events rotate among Palm Bay City Hall, the Tony Rosa Community Center, the Ted Whitlock Community Center and Fred Poppe Regional Park (Palm Bay Holiday Events page).

Both community centers post the same weekly schedule: Monday to Friday 9 AM to 8:30 PM, Saturday 9 AM to 4:30 PM, closed Sunday and closed on holidays (Tony Rosa Community Center; Ted Whitlock Community Center).

In 2024 Palm Bay also used the large outdoor movie screen at Fred Poppe Regional Park for a Frozen screening on December 14, with a meet-and-greet starting at 5 p.m. and the film at 6 p.m. (City of Palm Bay holiday events release).