2026 Saline County Christmas Parade Dec. 7th features Fairytale theme and cash prizes

See the list of all the holiday events at www.mysaline.com/holiday-events.

Registration is officially open for the 2026 Saline County Christmas Parade. Get ready for sparkling floats, marching bands, and holiday displays in Downtown Benton.

This year’s event features the theme “A Fairytale Christmas” ✨ and includes cash prizes for top parade entries. It also coincides with the annual lighting of the lavish and whimsical Saline County Courthouse Christmas display. Read more below.

2025 parade shown above. Photo by Matt Albright.

👀WHAT

The Saline County Christmas Parade is for the whole county, and it’s a hugely popular event, showcasing creativity and holiday spirit. Children and adults love to see the beautiful lights, fun characters and floats. But there’s also candy, and Saline County’s Santa appears for the first time for the season – both in the parade and in the Courthouse Gazebo.

⌛WHEN

The parade procession will begin on Monday, December 7th, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. through the lighted streets of downtown Benton. The streets will be barricaded by 5:45 p.m., so you’ll want your vehicle to be in or out by that time. The deadline to submit registration forms for all parade entries is Nov. 30, 2026.

📍WHERE

Residents are encouraged to stand on the street sides along the route to cheer on the parade. The magical Christmas fairytale parade will wander its route through historic downtown Benton on the following streets (map below):

Market St. – beginning at S Market Street & Smith Street (at CW Lewis Stadium).
Right on North St.,
Right on Main St.,
end at Ashley St.

Click to see enlarged Parade Map. 🔎

👋WHO

Organizers invite the community to participate 🚓🥁📯📣🏈🚗🏎️🚛🚶🏽‍♀️🐎🎅🚒 – groups, schools, local businesses, dance crews, sports teams, marching bands, gymnastics clubs, decorated vehicles, and individual walkers.

PRIZES & SPONSORS

Thanks to local sponsors, there will be cash prizes awarded to the top three parade entries, to encourage creative float designs and community participation.

1st Place prize of $300.00 is sponsored by Retro Rose Records.
2nd Place prize of $200.00 is sponsored by Mayor Tom Farmer.
3rd Place prize of $100.00 is sponsored by Saline County Economic Development Corp.

REGISTRATION

IMPORTANT – There are 2 pages of instructions after the form. Be sure you read them all!

Online – Find the registration form at this link.

In-person – Paper forms are available at: