Kent Winterfest 2026: Your Guide to Santa and Parking
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
At 2 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5, Town Square Plaza at 2nd Avenue and Smith Street opens for Winterfest. Food booths, community booths and local craftspeople set up there, and the plaza stays busy until 7 p.m. That same Saturday, a different Santa is taking photo appointments at Kent Station. Close by, Sound Transit is in the last months of a garage project that has kept one parking lot closed since March.
Kent's holiday month centers on two places, the historic downtown core around Town Square and the Kent Station area. They share the same few blocks of Smith Street. This year that area also has the least station parking it has had in a while. You'll still find plenty to do, but it pays to know who is where, and when.
Most people think of the tree lighting as a single 6 p.m. moment. The City of Kent's Winterfest page schedules the whole afternoon, with four student and studio sets before the parade and the lighting, and a School of Rock Kent set to close the evening.
| Time | On the Town Square stage or plaza |
|---|---|
| 2:00 p.m. | Festival opens |
| 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. | Allegro Performing Arts Academy |
| 3:15 to 3:45 p.m. | Spotlight Dance Studio |
| 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. | Kentlake Voices and Strings |
| 4:45 to 5:15 p.m. | Kentlake Jazz Band |
| 5:00 p.m. | Winterfest parade |
| 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. | Photos with Santa |
| 6:00 p.m. | Tree lighting |
| 6:20 to 6:45 p.m. | School of Rock Kent |
The Kentlake Jazz Band set overlaps the start of the parade, and Santa shows up at the plaza right as the parade begins. Santa's mailbox is open at the plaza too. You can bring your own letter or fill out a postcard in Santa's tent. If you want a reply, the city asks you to include a mailing address.
Visit Kent's listing gives the address as 115 2nd Ave. N. and mentions food trucks along with the local vendors. The Kent Downtown Partnership's Winterfest page links back to the city's full schedule.
Santa visits in December happen at two places. The city's Winterfest calendar lists the Santa House at Kent Station from Nov. 28 through Dec. 23. Kent Station advertises professional photo packages, treats and a gift, and it takes reservations.
The Santa House schedule splits the season among three Santas, so the date you book decides which one you'll see.
On Winterfest Saturday, Santa Troy I finishes at Kent Station at 5 p.m., the same hour the free Santa photos start at Town Square. Families who want a professional sitting can book Kent Station that morning or early afternoon and still make the plaza for the parade. Families who want the free photo can skip the booking and plan to be on the plaza after 5.
Here's what makes this December different in practice. Sound Transit runs two parking facilities at Kent Station, and both are reduced through the holidays.
The first is the northwest Sounder surface lot. Sound Transit closed it on March 16, 2026, and its Kent Station service notice lists the closure through Jan. 1, 2027. During the closure, the lot's only open spaces are three ADA stalls. Sound Transit expects this project phase to wrap up in December 2026.
The second is the existing Kent garage at W. Smith Street and 1st Avenue North, which Sound Transit names as the alternative to the closed lot. It has been under concrete repair since Aug. 10, 2026, and Sound Transit says its capacity will stay reduced into mid-February 2027. Level 5 has reopened, and work on Level 4 was scheduled to begin Oct. 13. Riders can keep parking in the garage throughout the work, and Sound Transit asks drivers to follow the posted signs.
Both are Sound Transit facilities for Sounder riders, and the notices above are the authority on how they operate. Check them before any trip that depends on finding a space near the station.
The garage on Smith Street sits a block west of Town Square Plaza's corner at 2nd and Smith. The busiest stretch of Winterfest and this season's parking reductions are on the same few blocks.
All of this is in service of a new garage at East James Street and Railroad Avenue North. The Kent Reporter reported that Sound Transit, Kent city officials and Puyallup-based Absher Construction broke ground in October 2024 on the $62 million structure. It will have more than 400 stalls and is going up just south of James Street and east of the Kent Station shopping center, on land where a cold storage warehouse once stood.
Sound Transit's Oct. 9, 2026 project update describes the structure as nearing completion, with crews working on station access and site improvements. The garage, along with the pedestrian and bus improvements that come with it, is expected to open in 2027. So the garage will be visibly close to done this December, but it won't be open for this year's holiday season.
Once you know where the parking pressure is, the rest of December falls into two groups. Most events stay in the downtown core around Town Square and Kent Station. A few take you to other parts of Kent.
In and around downtown:
Elsewhere in Kent:
The weekends of Dec. 5 and 6 and Dec. 12 and 13 hold the most. On Dec. 5, Santa Troy I is at Kent Station, Winterfest fills Town Square, and the yeti hunt is running in the shops between them. The next afternoon, Magical Strings plays at Kent-Meridian while Santa Troy I is back at the station until 6 p.m. On Dec. 12, the Christmas Rush runners start at Hogan Park in the morning, and Santa Raynard opens the Santa House at 11 a.m. for an eight-hour shift.
If you're hosting family who come down for Winterfest, or you're curious what the new garage at Kent Station will mean once it opens in 2027, Amy Le is glad to talk through what's changing around downtown Kent. Schedule a consultation whenever it suits you.
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