Jacksonville Beach Deck the Chairs opens Wednesday, November 25, at Seawalk Pavilion and runs through January 1. It's free and open every day, and the lifeguard chairs will light up the oceanfront again this season. The bigger change is in how the 14th season is organized. The 2026 event guide splits the calendar into five themed weeks, each with its own sponsor and featured event, and puts the Christmas Market on every Sunday of the run.
Every week starts on a Wednesday, picks up on the weekend and quiets down early in the week. Once you know that pattern, you can decide which Saturday afternoon, which Sunday morning and which weeknight are worth the drive or the walk to the pavilion.
A New Organizer, And A Calendar Built Around Weeks
This is the first season run by the Students in the Arts Alliance. According to Jacksonville Today, the nonprofit Deck the Chairs organization formed the alliance earlier this year to run the holiday exhibit and its youth performances and to offer arts opportunities for students all year. Kurtis Loftus, who founded Deck the Chairs, described the shift in a news release that Jacksonville Today quoted: "Deck The Chairs is our tradition, and Students in the Arts Alliance is our future."
The calendar reflects that student focus. Every one of the five weeks includes student stage programming, the Student Decorating Challenge displays, community chair voting, the musical light show and the Sunday market. For most of the season, the printed 2026 schedule follows the same weekly pattern:
- Wednesday: the new week begins with the displays up and the light show running.
- Thursday and Friday: the alliance's concessions and merchandise stand usually opens around 5 p.m., and evening stage shows fill in around it.
- Saturday: the afternoon stage hosts the week's largest group performances.
- Sunday: the Christmas Market opens at 10 a.m., the Kids Craft Shop starts at 1 p.m. and concessions open at 2 p.m.
- Monday and Tuesday: the chairs and lights stay up, but concessions and merchandise are usually closed.
The chair displays light up every night from 5 to 10 p.m., so a quiet Monday or Tuesday visit still includes the musical light show. On most of those nights the concession stand will be closed.
Five Sundays Where There Used To Be Two
Sundays show the biggest change. Last year's season had two Christmas Markets, on November 29 and December 6, as News4JAX reported when the 2025 schedule was released. This year the Christmas Market runs every Sunday of the season from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Latham Plaza and Seawalk Pavilion, 11 1st Street North.
| 2025 season | 2026 season | |
|---|---|---|
| Christmas Market dates | Nov. 29 and Dec. 6 | Nov. 29, Dec. 6, 13, 20 and 27 |
| Light show window | Hourly, 6 to 9 p.m. | Nightly, 5 to 10 p.m. |
| Tuba Christmas lineup | 200 tuba players | 150 tubas |
The event guide frames the market around shopping small and celebrating local. Each market Sunday comes with more than shopping. The Kids Craft Shop, presented by the Students in the Arts Alliance and Deck The Jaguar, runs at 1 p.m. on those Sundays. Greenlight Theatre Company brings Santa Claus is Coming to Town to the Pavilion Stage on the December 6 and December 20 market days. On December 13, Cathedral Arts Project and the Global Academy of Jacksonville Choir and Orff Ensemble are on the Sunday program.
One Headliner Per Week
Each week has a featured event, so when you go decides what you'll see on the Pavilion Stage. Here's how the five weeks line up, with names and times from the 2026 guide and schedule:
| Week | Dates | Theme and sponsor | Headliner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nov. 25 to Dec. 1 | Opening Week Celebration with HFG Wealth Advisors | Opening Celebration, Sat. Nov. 28, 2 p.m. |
| 2 | Dec. 2 to Dec. 8 | Students In The Arts Week with City of Jacksonville Beach | The Florida Ballet's The Nutcracker, Fri. Dec. 4, 6 p.m. |
| 3 | Dec. 9 to Dec. 15 | Tuba Christmas Music Week with IQ Fiber | Tuba Christmas, Sat. Dec. 12, 1 p.m. |
| 4 | Dec. 16 to Dec. 22 | Chair Decorating Awards Week with Artistic Contractors | Chair Decorating Awards, Sun. Dec. 20, noon |
| 5 | Dec. 23 to Dec. 30 | Christmas to New Year's Week with TaxSlayer Gator Bowl | TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Pep Rally, Tue. Dec. 29, 4 p.m. |
The opening weekend lineup on Saturday, November 28, includes Ray of Sunshine Theatre, Jordan Judith, Music Rowe and The Big Orange Chorus. Wednesday, November 25, the opening night itself, belongs to The Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Florida on the Pavilion Stage.
Some of the best weeknight programming falls outside the headliner slots. On Thursday, December 10, the schedule lists Pier Dance with John Miller & The Bay Street Band. The next evening at 4:30 p.m., the stage features The Discovery School Band, the Beaches Chapel Handbell Ensemble, First Coast Center for the Arts and the University of North Florida Dance Team, among others. Thursday, December 17, is St. Paul's Night at 5 p.m.
The Nights The Pattern Breaks
These dates run on a different schedule:
- Thanksgiving, Thursday, November 26. Chair voting is available, but concessions and merchandise are closed.
- Friday, December 18. Worship Night takes the Pavilion Stage at 6 p.m., and the schedule marks it as a night with no light show.
- Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24. Ocean City Church holds a Christmas Eve service on the Pavilion Stage at 5 p.m., and concessions are closed.
- Christmas Day and the final stretch. Concessions are closed on December 25 and again from Wednesday, December 30, through January 1.
- Tuesday, December 29. On what would normally be a closed Tuesday, concessions open at 4 p.m. for the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl Pep Rally.
If you're hosting family over the holidays and want to show them the light show, December 18 is the night to avoid. The printed schedule notes that dates and times are subject to change, and deckthechairs.org has the latest updates.
Your Vote Closes Before The Awards
The weekly schedule also sets a deadline for anyone with a favorite chair. Under the new chair voting setup, you walk the displays, note the numbers of the chairs you like at the display site, and pick three favorites on a single ballot. Those votes decide the 2026 People's Choice Awards. Voting opens November 25 and closes in mid-December, ahead of the Chair Decorating Awards on December 20. The printed schedule lists the close as 2 p.m. on Sunday, December 13, so voting by then is the safe plan, and the chair voting page carries the current deadline.
Whose Chairs You'll Be Voting On
The guide credits more than 50 organizations with helping bring the exhibit together. Many of the community chairs come from familiar Beaches names, including the Volunteer Lifeguards, Oceanside Rotary, Baptist Medical Beaches, Beach Gazette, American Legion, Fleet Landing and the City of Jacksonville Beach. That fits the event's roots. Jacksonville Today reported that Loftus started with 18 local business partners and raised money to support the Volunteer Lifeguards.
The Student Decorating Challenge adds 22 student teams this year, and each program receives a $500 decorating stipend. Twelve teams display at the Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The ten at the beach come mostly from schools nearby:
- Alfred I. DuPont Middle School
- Beaches Chapel School
- Discovery School
- Duval Charter at Coastal
- Fletcher High School, Interact
- Fletcher Middle School
- Global Leadership Academy ARTS
- Mayport Coastal Sciences Middle School
- Sandalwood | Beaches Go Green
- Seaside Charter School
Several of those schools also appear on the stage schedule. Discovery School's band plays on December 11, and Fletcher Middle School performs during Chair Decorating Awards Week. One family can find a reason to go back across several weeks: a chair to vote for in week one, a performance in week three and the awards in week four.
Holly Reaves loves the season when the Seawalk Pavilion lights up, and she follows Jacksonville Beach closely enough to know which blocks are an easy walk from Latham Plaza. If this year's Sunday markets have you picturing a home closer to the chairs, Holly Reaves would be glad to show you around the neighborhood. Work With Holly.
