The best Lighted Christmas Parade in Iowa (2025)

Saturday, Dec 6th, 2025 will mark the 38th annual Lighted Christmas Parade in Oskaloosa, Iowa. If you haven’t been to Osky (how the locals refer to it) to see the town square lit up or the lighted Christmas Parade – you need to add this to your bucket list!

For 2025, the parade starts at 7pm on the downtown square in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

If you’re heading to Oskaloosa for the parade, I would also recommend the following:

• Grab a bit to eat at Tasos Steakhouse
• Tour the Book Vault, an independent bookstore on the town square that’s stationed in an old bank. It even has old vaults that house specific collections.
• Grab a drink from Smokey Row Coffee
• or walk through the alley which runs alongside Smokey Row Coffee, the alley has Christmas lights and volunteers are usually out pouring free hot apple cider!
• Walk around the town square, which is filled with thousands of holiday lights that are displayed on the front of all the shops in the town square.
• From 4pm to 6pm, there are horse-drawn wagon rides (at cost – bring cash)

The parade will happen even if it snows! In fact, it’s pretty magical when it snows. Here’s a map showing the route of the parade through downtown Osky.