Ask around about the Discovery Bay holiday parade and you'll get three different answers, because the town has three parades run by three different groups, each with its own rules about who can take part.
The street parade is Saturday, Dec. 5. The yacht club's boat parade is on the water a week later, on Dec. 12. The third is limited to one lake and has no 2026 date yet. Watching any of them takes no planning. Taking part does, and the window closes early. A boat that wants into the yacht club's parade has to be registered for the mandatory skippers meeting on Sunday, Dec. 6, the day after the street parade.
Dec. 5: the street parade, under a new contact
The 24th Annual Discovery Bay Lighted Holiday Street Parade, also called the Parade of Lights, is set for Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026. The Discovery Bay Community Foundation lists it on its calendar with a 5 to 10 p.m. window and describes floats, dancers, musicians, and a closing Christmas tree lighting. The calendar calls it "the largest event in town each year."
This year the float contact is the foundation. Questions about entering a float go to Jim at [email protected]. The foundation's page says more details are "coming soon," so the 2026 route, registration form, and entry deadline have not been posted yet. The start time isn't settled either. The foundation lists 5 p.m. as the start of its window, and the Discovery Bay Chamber of Commerce calendar shows 6 p.m. Last year's parade stepped off at 6.
Last year's version is the best guide to what's coming. The Press reported that the 2025 parade, the 23rd, started at Discovery Bay Marina, 5901 Marina Road. It ran down Marina Road to Willow Lake Road, then along Riverlake and Sand Point roads, and ended at the Discovery Bay Shopping Center. The tree lighting took place in front of the Community Center across the street at about 7:45 p.m. The 2025 theme was "toys." The Liberty High School marching band led the way, as it always does, and 13 award categories included "best dance group" and "best in theme." In the same story, founder Amanda Dove said the BMX bikes would be back and so would Mattson Plumbing's giant toilet float.
Until the foundation posts 2026 details, treat that route and those entries as how the parade worked last year. They aren't promises for this year. What matters for the rest of December is the timing. The street parade is the first Saturday, and the yacht club's skippers meeting is the next evening.
Dec. 12: the boat parade anyone can enter
The Discovery Bay Yacht Club holds its 2026 Lighted Boat Parade on Saturday, Dec. 12, with the theme "America's 250 Years of Freedom." The club says the parade is open to the general public. It's not limited to members. Last year's theme, "50 years of fabulous fun," marked the club's 50th anniversary, according to The Press.
Here is what the club's event page asks of anyone who wants to enter a boat:
- Register online through the club's registration page. The page lists no fee or cutoff date, so a call to the club at 925-634-1210 is the quickest way to find out.
- Attend the mandatory skippers meeting on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. Wristbands for the after-parade gathering are handed out there.
- Carry a VHF radio on board. Every registered boat needs one.
- Assemble on Kellogg Creek, just off the point of Newport Lane, before the start.
From there the parade winds through every other bay in Discovery Bay and finishes in Marina Bay, just past F dock near the marina. Skippers and their guests with wristbands then head to the yacht club at 5871 Marina Blvd. for awards, food, and drinks. The club's page gives two start times. The written description says 5:15 p.m., and the event header lists 5:30.
Last year, Fleet Captain Steve Riggio called it "a really fun three-hour tour of Discovery Bay" in The Press's preview. Judging took place at houses along the route, with awards in small and large boat categories. For anyone without a waterfront view, the same story said the boats could be seen from Discovery Bay Marina as they came in at the end of the route, around 8 p.m. in 2025. The 2026 route has the same finish line, so the marina is the logical place to watch from land again. The club hasn't published separate viewing guidance for this year.
The skippers meeting is what makes the timing tight. Anyone who decides to enter after watching the floats on Dec. 5 has about 24 hours to register and get to the meeting.
How the weeks line up
The parade weekends land close together, and so do the steps before them. Here is the sequence from this week through mid-December, with each item's status.
| Date | What happens | Status for 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Now through early December | Float entries for the street parade, by contacting [email protected] | Organizer says details are coming soon |
| Now through Dec. 6 | Boat registration with the Discovery Bay Yacht Club | Registration is open; no fee or deadline is listed |
| Sat., Dec. 5 | 24th Annual Lighted Holiday Street Parade and tree lighting | Date confirmed; start time listed as 5 p.m. by the foundation and 6 p.m. by the Chamber |
| Sun., Dec. 6, 7 p.m. | Mandatory skippers meeting for the boat parade | Confirmed |
| Sat., Dec. 12 | DBYC Lighted Boat Parade, "America's 250 Years of Freedom" | Confirmed; start listed as 5:15 or 5:30 p.m. |
| Later in December | Willow Lake Lighted Boat Parade, for Willow Lake residents | No 2026 date announced; set for Dec. 20 in The Press's preview last year |
Read top to bottom, the table puts every step to enter something before Dec. 7. After that it's about watching.
The third parade belongs to Willow Lake
The smallest of the three is the one most visitors never hear about. The Press reported that the Willow Lake Lighted Boat Parade has run since 2003 and is open only to Willow Lake residents. Organizers Stan Silva and Dick Kolda said it usually draws 13 or 14 boats, mostly decorated pontoons, with no theme.
"There's tons of people having parties that night and they enjoy us coming by and celebrating the holidays with us," Silva told The Press last year. Kolda said he usually decorates his boat as a Christmas train and was rebuilding it to look like a fire engine that year.
The same Press preview, which covered the 23rd street parade and so last year's season, put the Willow Lake parade on Dec. 20, the Saturday after the yacht club's, to close out the parade season. No 2026 date has been announced. Willow Lake neighbors usually hear about it from each other before it shows up anywhere public.
Getting guests to town on parade night
Parade nights bring friends and family from out of town, and the route in on Highway 4 still has a construction wrinkle. Caltrans' maintenance work on the SR-4 Old River Bridge near Discovery Bay has used 24-hour alternating one-way traffic control. The January 2026 announcement estimated delays of about 15 minutes.
The finish date is less clear. That January 31 release forecast completion on Nov. 10, 2026, weather permitting. A Caltrans District 4 notice about work in August still described the one-way control as running through November. But Caltrans District 10's project page now lists a target completion of spring 2027. Until Caltrans posts an update, guests coming in over the bridge on Dec. 5 or Dec. 12 should allow extra time.
If December is your first winter here, our Discovery Bay neighborhood page covers the rest of the town's year. For summer, see our look at the Discovery Bay Saturday that runs on pavement, not water.
At The Lucas Group, we know these December Saturdays as neighbors, and we'll be watching for the street parade route and the yacht club's final details as they're posted. If you're hosting family for parade weekend, or wondering what it would take to have your own spot on the water before next December, we're glad to talk it through. Get in Touch.
