Liberty Lake's Holiday Season Doubled. Half of It Runs on Sign-Ups.

"For 2026, Liberty Lake's 2nd annual Home For The Holidays is officially doubling up its number and attractions and events." That is how the city opened its Nov. 3 announcement, and the count backs it up. Last year's program had five activities. This year's has 10, and five of them are marked new.

The program doesn't only add events. Five of the 10 involve some kind of registration, and the earliest deadlines fall on Friday, Nov. 20, the day before the first light display opens. One of the new events filled before the season began. If you want to be part of Liberty Lake's holidays this year, rather than only walk past them, the first window closes Friday.

The Season Moved Up a Week

Almost every carryover event moved earlier, so the program now starts the weekend before Thanksgiving instead of the weekend after.

Moving up a week reshuffles the calendar for anyone used to last year's. In 2025, the tree lighting came after Thanksgiving dinner. In 2026 it comes five days before. The library mailbox opens the Monday of Thanksgiving week. The contest deadlines, which last year fell the Friday before the tree lighting, still do. That Friday is now tomorrow for anyone reading this on Thursday, Nov. 19.

The Half That Closes First

Here is the registration side of the program, in deadline order. These are the events where planning ahead decides whether you take part.

1. Deck the Homes, registration closes Friday, Nov. 20. The citywide home decorating contest is in its second year. The city's Rec1 registration listing shows no fee, a cap of 50 participants and a required Rec1 account. Judging happens on three Saturdays, Dec. 5, 12 and 19, so a house entered this week has to stay lit and decorated through most of December.
2. Battle of the Branches, sign-up closes Friday, Nov. 20. Families and organizations decorate trees in front of City Hall on Saturday, Dec. 5, and the trees stay on display through Jan. 3.
3. Cocoa & Carriage Rides, already full. The horse-drawn rides at Orchard Park on Wednesday, Dec. 9, are new this year, and the city says carriage ticket registration has already filled. The cocoa part of the evening runs 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., with the Ridgeline High School dance team selling it.
4. Jingle Bell Cruise, vehicle registration closes Friday, Dec. 4. This new event is a decorated-vehicle cruise led by the Liberty Lake Police Department. It ends at Orchard Park and starts at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12.
5. Merry & Bright Trivia Night, sign-ups close Dec. 4 or when full. It's new this year and starts at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19, in the Rotary Room at Trailhead Golf.

Carriage rides are the only event on this list that has already filled. Deck the Homes has a published cap of 50 participants. The two Nov. 20 deadlines come first, and the two Dec. 4 deadlines come next. After Dec. 4, what remains open to anyone is the walk-up side of the calendar and the chance to watch the cruise and the decorated homes.

The Half That Stays Open

The other five activities are walk-up events or self-guided displays, and their order shapes the season once the deadlines pass.

Saturday, Nov. 21, is the opening night. The Light Up Liberty Lake tree lighting runs 5 to 7 p.m. in the Trailhead Golf parking lot, with Santa and Mrs. Claus inside in the Rotary Room. It's the third year for the tree lighting, which is older than the Home For The Holidays program built around it. Both light displays open the same day.

Winter Wonderland at Orchard Park, 20298 E. Indiana Ave., is the returning display. In its first season, KXLY described it as a walk around the park to see lights and displays, and it reported 5 to 10 p.m. hours for that 2025 run. For 2026, Visit Spokane's holiday guide lists the lights as on every day from 4 to 10 p.m., through Jan. 3, 2027.

Hearth & Holly at Pavillion Park, 727 N. Molter Road, is new. Visit Spokane's listing says this is the first year the city will put up lights at Pavillion Park during Home For The Holidays. It describes the display as a traditional Christmas theme, with lights at the park entrance and near the pavilion plus a few displays. Admission is free. It runs on the same Nov. 21 to Jan. 3 dates as Winter Wonderland.

The rest of the open calendar comes in December:

• Santa's Mailbox, Nov. 23 through Dec. 11, at the Liberty Lake Municipal Library, where kids can drop off letters to Santa.
• Reindeer Rendezvous, new this year, on Wednesday, Dec. 2, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at City Hall, with a real reindeer outside and Santa inside.
• The Battle of the Branches trees, on display in front of City Hall from Dec. 5 through Jan. 3, for anyone who didn't decorate one.
• Cocoa at Orchard Park on Dec. 9, with the carriage rides running alongside for those who got tickets.

One more date falls on the season's first weekend. The Friends of the Library fall book sale runs Friday, Nov. 20, from noon to 6 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 21, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Liberty Lake Municipal Library. It isn't part of the holiday program, but its Saturday hours end two hours before the tree lighting starts.

Two Parks Change the Evening Route

With a single display, the walk-up season was one stop at Orchard Park. With a second display on Molter Road, an evening can now cover both parks, and the places along the way decide where the evening starts and ends.

Around Orchard Park, Harvest Parkway has two options. Fox & Onyx, at 1948 N. Harvest Parkway, opened in April 2026, according to the Inlander, and serves specialty coffee, hot chocolate and other drinks for kids. Next door at 1950 N. Harvest Parkway, across from the park, Crêpe Café Sisters keeps daytime hours, 8:15 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and is closed Mondays. That makes it a stop for a weekend brunch before a return visit after dark, not for the lights themselves.

On Country Vista Drive, Crazy Beagle Coffee Co. at 22026 E. Country Vista Dr. is a drive-through coffee stand, and BocoPop at 21980 E. Country Vista Dr. serves boba tea and coffee. Both are quick stops for a warm cup on the way between the two parks.

At Trailhead Golf, the clubhouse restaurant is Chavelitas Pub Grill & Cantina, at 22302 E. Country Vista Dr., Ste. A. The Spokesman-Review profiled it as a Mexican-American fusion spot whose owner also manages the clubhouse event space. Two of the program's events take place in that building, the tree lighting on Nov. 21 and the trivia night on Dec. 19, so Chavelitas is the natural place to eat before or after either one.

Who Built the Bigger Calendar

The Rec1 listing names four contributors to developing, managing and funding the program: the Liberty Lake Better Together Fund, Light Up Liberty Lake, the Liberty Lake Municipal Library and the Liberty Lake Parks and Art Commission. Liberty Lake Parks & Recreation runs the lineup, and the events are spread across city locations, with parks, City Hall, the library and the city's golf course clubhouse each hosting part of the season.

The registration events are the ones residents supply. Battle of the Branches needs decorated trees, Deck the Homes needs lit houses, the Jingle Bell Cruise needs decorated cars and the trivia night needs teams. Three of this year's five new additions ask the people who come to register in advance: Cocoa & Carriage Rides, the Jingle Bell Cruise and Merry & Bright Trivia Night. Hearth & Holly and Reindeer Rendezvous are the new additions open to anyone. For Deck the Homes and Battle of the Branches, the sign-up form on the city's site is open through Friday, Nov. 20.

If you're entering Deck the Homes this year, you're already thinking about how your house looks from the street at dusk. That's a big part of what we work on with sellers year-round at Graves Re Group. When you're curious what that curb appeal is worth in today's Liberty Lake market, Chelsey is glad to put together a Free Home Valuation, holiday lights included.