South Hill's December Now Runs From Grand Boulevard to Perry Street

From 2020 through 2023, December on South Hill had a center. Cars lined up on 25th Avenue, turned north on Tekoa Street or Manito Boulevard, and crept along a half-mile loop of lights inside Manito Park. The 2026 season works differently. It doesn't have one center. It has a string of dated events that starts at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist on Grand Boulevard the week before Thanksgiving and ends there three days before Christmas, with a free tree lighting on Perry Street in between.

The dates are below, in order. First, a short look at how the old center went dark.

How the Manito Loop Shrank, Then Stopped

Spokane Parks told KREM that the Manito show started in 2020 and ran for five years. It changed a lot over those years. In 2023 the City scheduled two drive-through nights, December 9 and 10, then switched to walk-through nights from December 11 to 19, with every night running 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. By 2024 the cars were gone. The display moved into Duncan Garden as a free, walk-through-only event from December 14 to 22, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.

In 2025, The Friends of Manito Park canceled the event. KXLY reported the group's three reasons: the resources it required, its environmental impact on the park, and the stress the event can place on nearby neighbors. KXLY quoted the Friends' statement: "In 2026, we plan to revisit the idea and explore ways to create a celebration that spreads holiday happiness while caring for our Park and our neighbors."

The shrinking footprint explains this year's map. The lights went from a drive-through loop to one garden to nothing. The holiday events that still fill South Hill's calendar sit at the neighborhood's edges, in a cathedral and on a commercial street, where crowds and parking were already part of normal life.

The Season Starts Before Thanksgiving, Inside St. John's

The first big holiday event of the season is Handel's Messiah with the Spokane Symphony and Spokane Symphony Chorale, held at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. The Fox Theater's event page lists three performances:

• Thursday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m.
• Friday, November 20 at 7:30 p.m.
• Saturday, November 21 at 3 p.m.

For the evening shows, doors open at 6:30 p.m. For the Saturday matinee, they open at 2 p.m. James Lowe conducts, and Dr. Meg Stohlmann directs the Chorale. Visit Spokane lists admission at $37 to $58, with tickets sold through the Fox.

Eight days later the Cathedral hosts its own opening of the season. ADVENT Lessons and Carols is Sunday, November 29, at 5 p.m. All of St. John's music ensembles take part, and the plate offering goes to the Music Ministry's special services. There's no ticket, so it's the cheapest of the Cathedral's holiday events. It also falls on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, when many households still have guests in town.

The Cathedral's Fall 2026 concert series has run since September. It included a Haunted Cathedral Concert on Halloween night and an All Saints Evensong on November 1. The holiday events extend a calendar the building had already been keeping. That steady programming is a big reason the Grand Boulevard end of South Hill now carries more of December than the park does.

December, Date by Date

Here is the holiday season along this stretch of South Hill, in calendar order.

The ticket prices for Songs that Sparkle come from the SimpleTix listing. Clarion Brass tickets are sold through figarotunes.com/clarion, which also lists a $20 rate for groups of 10 or more.

Six of these seven dates are at one building on Grand Boulevard. Two days stand out. Friday, December 11, is the one evening on Perry Street. Saturday, December 12, is the easiest day to fit several stops into, because the youth choir sings at 11 a.m. and Gaiser Conservatory is open until 3:30 p.m.

Perry Street's One Night

Very Merry Perry is organized by South Perry Together. It runs Friday, December 11, from 5 to 7 p.m. Santa poses for free photos on the porch of Wishing Tree Books from 5 to 6 p.m. At 6 p.m. he helps light the tree in front of South Perry Pizza. The event is free and family- and pet-friendly, and parking is on the street. Visit Spokane places it on Perry Street between 9th and 12th avenues.

Of the old Manito event, two things are back here. It's free, and it's outdoors after dark. But it lasts one night and one hour of Santa photos, not a week or more of lights, and it stays inside the few blocks of a commercial district. Our Perry District neighborhood page has more on that part of South Hill.

The district also has a new place to go after the tree lighting. The Inlander reported that Luna, at 5620 S. Perry St., opened a 21+ Garden Bar in early October in the room it once used for catering, called the Garden Room. Luna is a long way south on Perry from the 9th-to-12th blocks where the tree goes up. The bar stays open an hour later than the dining room. It has a late-night menu with coconut prawns at $25 and beef tartare at $26, and its fall cocktail list includes the Butter Me Up, made with brown butter bourbon, amaro nonino, pecan and cinnamon, for $15.

Manito's Holiday Display Moves Indoors, and Into Daylight

Manito Park still has a holiday display. It's just indoors and in the daytime now. Gaiser Conservatory puts out poinsettias for the season. Entry is free, and it's open 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every day except Wednesday. It's also closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Those hours limit which days line up with the calendar above. The conservatory closes at 3:30, so none of the evening events can be paired with it. That includes the two evening Messiah performances, Very Merry Perry and Clarion Brass. The Saturday matinee of Messiah, November 21, starts at 3 p.m., which leaves no time for both. The day that works best is Saturday, December 12. The youth choir finishes at noon, and the greenhouse is open all afternoon. Thanksgiving Day, November 26, falls on a Thursday this year, so visitors who come during that holiday week should go Friday or Saturday.

Here's how one full Saturday on South Hill could go:

1. 11 a.m. Songs that Sparkle with the Spokane Area Youth Choirs at St. John's Cathedral.
2. Early afternoon. The poinsettias at Gaiser Conservatory, which is free and open until 3:30 p.m.
3. Evening. Dinner at Luna, or a cocktail in the new Garden Bar, on Perry Street.

If you'd rather see Manito in winter without a schedule, our Manito and Cannon Hill page covers the streets around the park. Our fall color guide to South Hill covers the season that ended just before this one.

The Last Night Is Back on Grand Boulevard

The season ends where it began. On Tuesday, December 22, at 7:30 p.m., Clarion Brass plays "This Is What Christmas Sounds Like" at St. John's, conducted by the Cathedral's Director of Music Ministry, Dr. Andrea Olsen. The Cathedral's concert page calls the program a Christmas tradition. It features brass choir arrangements by local composer William Berry. The Spokesman-Review calendar lists the concert from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at $25.

From Messiah on November 19 to Clarion Brass on December 22, the season covers about five weeks. The old lights ran for 11 nights in 2023 and nine in 2024. South Hill's holiday events now cover a longer stretch of the calendar than the lights did. They're just spread over more places, and only one of the evenings is outdoors.

Choosing which South Hill blocks to call home often comes down to which end of the neighborhood you'd rather walk to on a winter night, Grand Boulevard or Perry Street. If you're weighing that, Alejandro Ventura is happy to talk it through with you, calmly and at your own pace. Let's Connect.