"Glitters has still been going for the last few years, but in a modified space, way smaller than what people would be used to if they've seen any of its previous iterations," Glendale Special Events Administrator Danny Williamson told the Glendale Star this fall. He tied the smaller event to one place. "Murphy Park itself was under so much construction that it was really hard to hit the nail on the head for what we wanted to provide."

That construction is done. Glendale Glitters 2026 is the first one held on the rebuilt civic campus, and the change goes beyond more lights. The season now runs on three schedules. The merchants' calendar starts it 13 days early. A street-closure calendar sets the Thanksgiving weekend kickoff. A weekend-only vendor calendar makes Friday and Saturday nights a different event from the rest of the week, while the lights stay on every night through New Year's Day.

What the rebuilt campus gives back

The Downtown Campus Reinvestment Project rebuilt Glendale's 1984 civic campus. That includes City Hall and its parking garage, Council Chambers, the E. Lowell Rogers Amphitheatre and Murphy Park. The city describes it as a three-year project costing nearly $100 million, and the Glendale Star puts the reconstruction at four years. The city marked completion with a ribbon-cutting on June 18, 2026, followed by a community party in Murphy Park on June 20.

The baseline is how far the event had moved. In November 2023, ABC15 reported that construction had pushed the main Glitters displays and attractions over to the Glendale Civic Center, and that the usual tree-lighting display would not be in Murphy Park that season. The 2025 lighting ceremony was still held in front of the Civic Center.

For 2026, a June 23 council workshop deck from Parks and Recreation says the event footprint "returns to the pre-DCRP footprint." That runs from 57th Avenue to 59th Avenue and from Glendale Avenue to Myrtle Avenue. A follow-up deck dated Sept. 22 includes separate lighting plans for Murphy Park and for the bead and plaza areas. The Glendale Independent reports that the renovated City Hall campus adds another display area, and that the city's main Christmas tree will again stand just west of the main Civic Center entrance.

The Glendale Star describes the decorated area as more than two million lights across about 16 city blocks. The Historic Downtown Glendale Merchants Association, which bills this as the event's 33rd year, calls it a "triumphant return to Murphy Park."

The merchants open the season on Nov. 14

The merchants' season starts first. The association's 30th annual Holiday Open House takes over the Old Towne and Catlin Court retail districts on Saturday, Nov. 14, starting at 10 a.m. That is 13 days before the city's lighting ceremony. For anyone who wants downtown's shops and holiday decorations before the Thanksgiving crowds and road closures, this is the day.

Several details on the merchants' program tie this year's Open House to downtown's own history:

• The wooden nutcrackers are back. Local artisans make these eight-foot-tall figures. Catlin Court shop owners started the tradition nearly thirty years ago, setting nutcrackers by the front doors and on the patios of their bungalow-style shops.
• A new holiday charm debuts for the Historic Downtown Glendale charm bracelet, and make-and-take stations will be set up around the district.
• The Patriotic Community Tree at 58th Drive and Palmaire collects handcrafted ornaments that honor the military, and attendees can decorate one that day.
• Start at the Arizona Information Center, 5836 W. Palmaire Ave. It hands out the activity list, a commemorative event sticker and the walking map.

The Open House runs on downtown's own businesses, with gift-wrapping stations and holiday shop windows across the district. Glitters is a city production that brings in outside vendors.

Thanksgiving week, the streets close before the lights come on

Under the plan in the Sept. 22 deck, kickoff-weekend road closures start at 6 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. The streets reopen at 6 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 29. That is a planning document, so the times could still shift. Anyone who drives through downtown Glendale on Thanksgiving week should check them again closer to the date.

The public schedule after that is set, according to the merchants association:

• Friday, Nov. 27, 5:45 p.m. The official lighting ceremony
• Nov. 27 and 28, 5 to 10 p.m. The kickoff event, with light displays, interactive attractions, vendors, carolers and Santa
• Saturday, Nov. 28 Small Business Saturday downtown
• Nightly through Jan. 1, 5 to 10 p.m. The lights stay on after the kickoff

This year's season also starts a night earlier and ends a night later than in 2025. That year the kickoff began Nov. 28 and the lights ran through Dec. 31. For 2026 they stay on through Jan. 1, 2027, so New Year's Day evening is on the calendar.

Friday and Saturday are a different event from the rest of the week

After kickoff, the June deck plans four event weekends in total, with vendors, music, entertainment and activities. Vendor approval covers the kickoff weekend and all later weekends, with the note "weekdays not utilized." The decks give the number of event weekends but not their dates.

The road-closure plan shows how those weekends are built. For the event weekends after Thanksgiving, the Sept. 22 deck closes streets at 6 a.m. Friday and reopens them at 6 a.m. Sunday. So the full festival happens on Friday and Saturday nights. The same deck plans the park's gazebo as the "weekend home for Santa's holiday display." Staff were also looking at adding entertainment for the hours Santa isn't there. Its site map marks a beer tent and beer perimeter, food vendor and general vendor locations, and restroom locations.

Interest from vendors is strong. The Sept. 22 deck counted more than 90 applications, six of them from downtown merchants, with applications closing Oct. 9 and notifications due by Oct. 23. The June plan gave downtown Glendale businesses a local preference in vendor selection.

On Sunday through Thursday, the lights still run from 5 to 10 p.m., but the vendor rows and the planned Santa weekends aren't part of it. Those nights are a lights-and-dinner outing on open streets, and that is where the year-round businesses come in.

A weeknight route through the footprint

The footprint runs from 57th to 59th Avenue, and the merchants association's directory puts several sit-down and dessert stops inside it or right next to it. The directory isn't dated, so check hours before a holiday visit.

• Blue Corn Cafe & Bakery, 7015 N. 58th Ave. ABC15 reported on Oct. 1 that the bakery had reopened after a closure of about a week and was marking four years downtown.
• The Pink Door Tea House, 7153 N. 59th Ave. and The Spicery in Our 1895 Home, 7141 N. 59th Ave. sit on the western edge.
• A Touch of European Cafe, 7146 N. 57th Drive, Ste. C, and Bitz-ee Mama's, 7023 N. 58th Ave., are a short walk from Murphy Park.
• Cornish Pasty Co., 5747 W. Glendale Ave., is on the footprint's southern edge.
• Packer Family Ice Cream, 7146 N. 58th Ave., behind Packer Family Photography, works as the last stop before the lights.

One holiday stop is outside the lit blocks. Cerreta Candy Company is at 5345 W. Glendale Ave., east of 57th Avenue, so it's a separate trip rather than part of the walk.

For shopping along the way, the directory lists Drawn to Comics at 5801 W. Glendale Ave., Memory Lane Trinkets and Treasures at 5836 W. Palmaire Ave. and The Cottage Garden at 5890 W. Palmaire Ave., among others. Memory Lane shares an address with the Arizona Information Center, where the Nov. 14 Open House begins. That makes Palmaire Avenue an easy place to start either a Saturday morning of shopping or a weeknight walk under the lights.

In Williamson's own words to the Glendale Star, the city hopes people who stayed away during the construction years come back and "have a taste of what they were used to."

The rebuilt civic campus is one of the bigger changes to downtown Glendale in years. For a homeowner thinking about what that means for property near the Old Towne and Catlin Court districts, Christopher Doyle offers a discreet, data-informed conversation about the West Valley market. Schedule a Complimentary Consultation.