The Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce will hold its 50th Annual Nantucket Christmas Stroll on December 6-8, 2024.
The holiday season begins with Nantucket Noel 2024 with the celebratory Tree Lighting on Main Street. The dozens of decorated Christmas Trees that line downtown streets will be illuminated this Friday after Thanksgiving.
Christmas Stroll Weekend will be held December 6, 7, and 8, featuring a visit by Santa Claus, Santa’s Village Marketplace, live entertainment, craft shows, tours, and local specials.
More details will be announced as plans progress.
Check our Events Page for up-to-date events — 2024 events will be added as information becomes available.
And to plan your island visit, go to Nantucket.net for Accommodations, Dining, Travel Plans, and more! Please note that accommodations fill early for this special weekend, as do restaurant reservations, so make your plans well in advance.
About Nantucket Christmas Stroll
More than 50 years ago, the originators of the first Nantucket Christmas Stroll were trying to discourage islanders from traveling to Cape Cod, 30 miles across Nantucket Sound, to do all their holiday shopping. They were hoping island residents would do their shopping locally.
Rewind to 1973, a year when local merchants kept shops open late that first Friday in December, inviting locals to do all their holiday shopping on-island. That evening, christened as a “Christmas Shoppers Stroll,” was a mere three hours in duration and was a huge success. Shopkeepers entertained shoppers with wine, hot chocolate, tea, mulled cider, fruitcake, and holiday cookies while they perused crafts, books, clothes and wares, and other holiday gift items. In subsequent years, the event grew exponentially, drawing larger crowds until it became a nationally- and, ultimately, internationally-renowned holiday event. Now organized by the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce, this popular and festive event is typically held during the first full weekend of December.
This year’s Nantucket Christmas Stroll is being celebrated as the 50th because Stroll was canceled one year during the pandemic. The event will feature more than 100 decorated holiday trees throughout the downtown area, along with a 20-foot tree at the top of Main Street. All these trees will be lit up at dusk the day after Thanksgiving with a special Illumination Ceremony led by Nantucket’s Town Crier: a fun family gathering with caroling.
Once again this year, the Nantucket Historical Association is transforming their Whaling Museum into a glittering winter wonderland. Starting on December 6 and continuing through the month of December, more than 50 uniquely decorated and crafted trees designed by local businesses, artists, individuals, and non-profit organizations make up the Festival of Trees showcase. The NHA often hosts additional holiday events: visit their website at nha.org for details.
In addition to its longstanding traditional events, the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce has announced weekend highlights and activities on Stroll Saturday that include: the sale of Annual Stroll pins and merchandise; Storefront and Tree Decorating Contests; a downtown marketplace from 10 am to 3 pm featuring food, crafts, beverages; live entertainment on a stage set up on Main Street; and the arrival by boat of Santa Claus announced by Nantucket’s Town Crier. Island business people are walking tours, book signings, hikes, special sales, holiday theatre performances, concerts, and stroll receptions. For exact details, dates, times, and locations of this year’s events, visit the Insider’s Guide to Nantucket: Nantucket.net.
Over the decades, the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce has enlarged and improved Christmas Stroll weekend, but it is our island’s warm welcome and hospitality that add to the holiday spirit and feeling of fellowship on Nantucket Island.