On the evening of Friday, November 27, the Downtown Paso Robles Main Street Association will hand out a Holiday Songbook in Downtown City Park. The songbook is there for the candlelight caroling. Inside it is also a Bingo card, and that card ties the next nine days of downtown together.
Downtown's tree lighting, parade and Santa visit run as one sequence with a start and a finish. The card goes out at the lighting. Participating merchants stamp it starting on Small Business Saturday. It's due by parade day, and Santa draws the winners at the Holiday House the following afternoon. If you only go to the parade, you've joined at the end.
The lighting ceremony gets a new start time
The Annual Downtown Lighting Ceremony is on Friday, November 27, in Downtown City Park at Spring and 12th. Admission is free. Main Street, which runs the ceremony, lists the hours as 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. and calls 5 p.m. a new start time.
Last year the City's event agenda listed the 39th annual ceremony at 5:30 p.m. on November 28, 2025. This year's is the 40th by the City of Paso Robles' count, and both years it falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving. If your family usually gets there at 5:30, plan to come earlier this year, and call the Main Street office at 805-238-4103 with any questions about the schedule.
The program is the one downtown regulars know: candlelight caroling, coffee and cocoa, greetings from City officials, Mrs. Claus and the Elves, and Mr. Ginch. The songbook comes with the caroling, so the people who leave with a Bingo card in hand are the ones who are there to pick one up.
Nine days to fill a card
The next morning, the songbook turns into a shopping errand. Main Street calls it Business Bingo, and the event page spells out how it works:
- Where to get a card: in the Holiday Songbook at the lighting ceremony, at participating Bingo merchants after November 27, at the Main Street office at 836 Norma's Alley, or printed from the event page.
- When play starts: Saturday, November 28, which is Small Business Saturday.
- What counts: a full card, stamped by the participating merchants.
- When it's due: turned in by Saturday, December 5.
- What's at stake: three downtown shopping sprees worth $375, $200 and $100.
The merchant list is linked from the same event page. Cards also show up at the shops taking part, so a card picked up at one stop can point you to the next.
Each stamp means a stop at a downtown business, and the prizes are downtown shopping sprees, so the winnings get spent in the same blocks around the park.
Parade night is the last day to turn in a card
The Christmas Light Parade runs Saturday, December 5, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. It's free and presented by Main Street. SLOCAL's listing calls this the 65th annual. Last year's parade was on December 6, 2025, so the event again falls on the first Saturday in December. It's also the Bingo deadline. Someone who finishes a card that afternoon can turn it in, eat dinner downtown and still find a spot along the route by 6.
Travel Paso's 2026 listing gives the route turn by turn:
- Start at Spring Street and 10th Street.
- Head north on Spring to 14th Street.
- At 14th, turn right onto Park Street and continue to 12th Street.
- Turn left on 12th and loop around Downtown City Park.
The route ends where the lighting ceremony was held. Travel Paso recommends watching from near the park, and it gives a second reason. The Christmas lights that Paso Robles businesses put up around the park's edge line the last stretch of the route. The parade passes the same storefronts people visited for Bingo stamps that week, and those shops light the spot where the parade finishes. The listing promises festive floats, classic cars and featured guests.
If you want a float in the parade, the Main Street parade page has the 2026 entry form.
Sunday at 3, the Holiday House
The game ends the next afternoon. Santa will draw the three Bingo winners on Sunday, December 6, at 3 p.m. at the Holiday House in Downtown City Park. Winners don't need to be there.
The drawing happens in the same park, nine days after the songbooks went out. The lighting starts the season in Downtown City Park, the parade ends with a loop around it, and the Holiday House drawing there closes out the game.
After the card is turned in
Two more Main Street events follow in December. Neither is part of Bingo, and each moves to a different setting.
Vine Street Victorian Showcase, Saturday, December 12, 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. The holiday crowd moves from the commercial core to a residential street. Main Street's showcase page sets the boundaries at Vine Street from 8th to 21st, and Travel Paso says traffic is blocked along that stretch for the evening. The organizer asks Vine Street households to call ahead and share the entertainment or decorations they're planning. On this night the people who live on the street put on the show. If you live on that stretch, plan around the closure. The phone number on the page is the place to start if you're adding to the showcase.
36th Annual Victorian Teddy Bear Tea, Saturday, December 19, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. The season moves indoors to the Park Ballroom. Children bring a teddy bear dressed for the occasion. Santa, Mrs. Claus, the Snow King and Queen, and Santa's elves will all be there. Tickets are $15 for children and $20 for adults and go on sale December 1 through my805tix. Albertsons, Trader Joe's and Red Scooter Deli sponsor the event. It's the only event on Main Street's late-season calendar that charges admission. It also has a set number of seats, so buy tickets early in December rather than the week of the tea.
The dates, in order
| Date | Event | Time | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Nov. 27 | 40th Annual Downtown Lighting Ceremony, songbooks and Bingo cards go out | 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. | Downtown City Park |
| Sat., Nov. 28 | Small Business Saturday, Bingo play begins | Business hours | Participating downtown merchants |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | Bingo cards due; Christmas Light Parade | Parade 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. | Spring at 10th to City Park loop |
| Sun., Dec. 6 | Bingo drawing by Santa | 3:00 p.m. | Holiday House, Downtown City Park |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | Vine Street Victorian Showcase | 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. | Vine Street, 8th to 21st |
| Sat., Dec. 19 | Victorian Teddy Bear Tea | 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. | Park Ballroom |
Everything on the list is free except the tea. The two dates to plan around come first: the 5 p.m. start on November 27, when the cards go out, and the December 5 deadline, when they're due.
Jordan Jackson keeps an eye on how downtown Paso Robles changes through the year, from which storefronts light up around City Park to which blocks fill up on parade night. If you're thinking about a home within walking distance of the park, or a place on a street like Vine that hosts its own December evening, Book a Consultation and we'll go over the blocks that put these events close to home.
