When should you start planning for Eagle's Christmas on Broadway? The posters point to the parade at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5. Several of the weekend's deadlines come before it, though. WassailFest voter cards are due at 4 p.m. that afternoon. Broadway closes to traffic at noon. The Town lists the celebration as starting Friday, Dec. 4, with the Holiday ARTwalk, but WassailFest sampling opens a day earlier, on Thursday, Dec. 3. Put on one timeline, most of the planning happens Thursday and Friday, and the parade comes near the end of Saturday's schedule.
The Wassail Card Is Due an Hour and a Half Before the Parade
WassailFest is the longest-running piece of the weekend. It has been part of Eagle's December since 2015. The Eagle Chamber runs it, and Circle-A Auto Repair and Hood Insurance Agency present it. The format is simple. Pick up a voter card at any participating business, sample wassail at your own pace, and vote for your favorite recipe. Sampling runs Thursday, Dec. 3, through Saturday, Dec. 5, up until 4 p.m., during each business's normal hours.
A card needs at least 12 stops to count. You write your name and phone number on it and turn it in at the Eagle Chamber tent on the sidewalk in front of All Western Mortgage, 215 Broadway, by 4 p.m. on Saturday. Taking part costs nothing. The first 30 people to turn in a completed card get a gift certificate to an Eagle business, and every completed card goes into a prize drawing.
The timing matters here. Twelve stops, normal business hours and a 4 p.m. cutoff mean Saturday afternoon is too late to start a card. The Chamber's WassailFest page is where the list of participating businesses will be posted, and it will also announce the 2026 winner in the weeks after the weekend.
Friday Night Is Built for Filling the Card
The easiest window for those 12 stops is Friday evening. The EagleARTS Holiday ARTwalk runs Friday, Dec. 4, from 5 to 8 p.m., centered on ARTSPACE workshop+gallery at 139 Broadway. Alpine Bank presents the event. According to EagleARTS, participating shops stay open late, host pop-up artists and pour wassail as part of WassailFest. Brent Gordon and Diego Espinosa are scheduled to play live music.
ARTwalk evening is the one stretch of the weekend when shops built around daytime hours stay open after dark and serve wassail. You can pick up a card, shop for gifts from local artists and get most of your votes in during the same three-hour walk down Broadway.
The Defending Wassail-Meister Has a New Name
Each year the business with the most votes is named Wassail-Meister and keeps a hand-carved trophy until the next WassailFest. The Chamber lists Capitol Market as the reigning 2025 champion, holding the trophy along with "Andy the Wassail Squirrel," the festival mascot named for Andy Jessen of Bonfire Brewing.
You may not recognize Capitol Market by that name yet. The Eagle Ranch location of Cut Meat and Seafood now goes by it, at 1099 Capitol Street, and Cut's website lists Monday through Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. In September, the Vail Daily reported that restaurateur and Eagle Town Council member Casey Glowacki closed Capitol Public House after its final summer weekend. He planned to combine that space with Cut at the corner of Capitol Street and Founders Avenue. The new Capitol Market concept was described as part market, part café and part gathering spot. It would sell meats, produce, pantry goods and grab-and-go items, serve soups, burgers and pizza, and keep the bar and patio open.
In the same Vail Daily story, Glowacki said the business at Capitol Public House "was actually good." He explained that the building was "a restaurant designed to do, you know, 300 covers, and it's only doing 150." He also pointed to the lack of basic grocery access in the Eagle Ranch commercial district. This year's WassailFest is the first since the combined concept was announced, which gives the 2026 voting a bit of local interest even for people who don't usually fill out a card.
Saturday Runs from the Noon Street Closure Past the Parade
Saturday is the day most people think of as Christmas on Broadway. Its schedule, as published on the Town's EagleOutside event page, fits together as a single afternoon and evening:
| Time | What's happening | Where |
|---|---|---|
| 12 p.m. | Broadway closes to traffic | Broadway |
| 2 p.m. | Jingle Jog 5K and kids' fun run start | 3rd and Broadway |
| 2 to 4 p.m. | Christmas on Broadway open house | All Western Mortgage, 215 Broadway |
| 3 to 5 p.m. | Pictures with Santa | Santa's Igloo, next to Wishes Toy Store, 321 Broadway |
| 3 to 5:30 p.m. | Candy Cane Lane family activities | Along Broadway |
| 4 p.m. | WassailFest voter cards due | Chamber tent, 215 Broadway |
| 4 to 5:30 p.m. | Eagle Chamber mixer | All Western Mortgage, 215 Broadway |
| 5 to 7:30 p.m. | Holiday crafts, story time, light refreshments | Library |
| 5:30 p.m. | Christmas on Broadway Parade | Broadway |
| 6 to 7:30 p.m. | After party with live music | All Western Mortgage, 215 Broadway |
| Sunday, 10 a.m. | Broadway reopens | Broadway |
Candy Cane Lane also lists EagleARTS at 139 Broadway, Unit C, the Town of Eagle at 200 Broadway and FOODsmith at 318 Broadway among its stops. Santa also has photo time after the parade, for families who miss the 3 to 5 p.m. window. The Town encourages parade watchers to dress warmly. Groups entering a float can still register through the Town's parade form. The parade committee asks for holiday lights on every entry to help in the dark and allows no fire, flame or propane.
The noon closure is the line that shapes everything else on the table. Anyone driving downtown for the race, Santa or the parade is parking off Broadway for the whole afternoon. The street stays closed overnight and doesn't reopen until 10 a.m. Sunday.
The Jingle Jog Price Goes Up Friday Evening
Of the weekend's deadlines, the Jingle Jog registration price comes first, three weeks before race day. The 5K is an out-and-back course, and both it and the kids' fun run start and finish at 3rd and Broadway. Mountain Tots Preschool presents the race and is using it to raise money toward a new preschool building. Peppermint-themed costumes are encouraged.
RunSignup lists the current prices:
- 5K: $27.50, including a $2.50 sign-up fee
- Kids' fun run: $11.60, including a $1.60 sign-up fee
- Both prices go up after 5 p.m. MST on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026
For runners, the noon closure and the race start work together. Race parking is listed on the side streets around Broadway, at Eagle Town Park and at the Eagle County Building. If you finish the 5K around midafternoon, you'll still have time to reach the Chamber tent before the 4 p.m. card cutoff, as long as the card was filled out earlier in the week.
The Lights Stay Up After Broadway Reopens
The parade ends Saturday night, but one holiday event keeps going for almost two more weeks. The Town of Eagle's Holiday Lighting Contest runs Dec. 1 through Dec. 17. The entry form asks for a display address and a short description. Categories are Best Traditional Display, Most Creative Theme, the Clark Griswold Award and the Kid's Choice Award.
Judging is set for Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m., and entered displays need their lights on at that hour. Winners will be announced Dec. 18. Prizes are local artisan gifts plus bragging rights. If you're hanging lights before the parade anyway, the same display can carry through to judging night, as long as the timers still have it lit at 7 p.m. on the 17th.
Joan Harned and Laura Sellards of Team Black Bear have watched Broadway fill up for this weekend for many Decembers. They're always glad to compare notes with neighbors on how downtown Eagle is changing, from a new name in Eagle Ranch to who takes the Wassail-Meister trophy home this year. If the holidays have you wondering what your own home is worth in today's Eagle market, ask us for a free home valuation, and we'll give you a clear answer once the wassail cups are put away.
