When Truro’s Christmas lights, markets and parade arrive

There won’t be a countdown or a big moment with a giant switch. One evening next month, the lights strung across Truro city centre will simply flicker on by themselves, and the city’s run-up to Christmas will be under way.

Truro BID has shared the key Christmas dates for the diary, from the first markets of the season to the night Father Christmas comes to town.

The day the lights come on

The Christmas lights will switch on automatically on Saturday 21 November. Truro BID funds, installs and maintains them, and that covers everything from storing them for the rest of the year to paying for the electricity that keeps them lit.

The date was picked to line up with the opening of the city’s Christmas markets, so the lights and the first stalls arrive on the same day.

Christmas markets on Lemon Quay and Boscawen Street

Saturday 21 November is the first day of Truro Christmas Market on Lemon Quay, and of the Boscawen Street Christmas Markets.

From then on, the street markets on Boscawen Street will run every Saturday and every Wednesday. From Wednesday 2 December, they will open later into the evening.

Father Christmas Parade and late night shopping

Wednesday 2 December is the big one. The Father Christmas Parade, organised by Truro BID and sponsored by Coodes Solicitors, takes place that evening to coincide with the first of the city’s Late Night Shopping evenings.

There will be four Late Night Shopping evenings in Truro between Wednesday 2 December and Wednesday 23 December, and shops are being encouraged to stay open until 9pm.

Where to find the full listings

City centre businesses will get the Christmas events calendar in Truro BID’s printed autumn newsletter, which is being hand delivered around the city centre.

For everyone else, the full event listings are on Visit Truro’s Christmas in Truro page.

📷Rock Choir singing beneath the Christmas lights on Boscawen Street, Truro. Credit: Truro BID