Center Valley's Second Tree Lighting Belongs to Hopewell Park

Last November, Saucon Source ran its roundup of holiday tree lightings around Saucon Valley. It listed Hellertown's Light Up Night in Dimmick Park, Coopersburg's ceremony at Coopersburg Fire Co. No. 1 and Fountain Hill's lighting at the borough complex. For Upper Saucon it listed one event, the Promenade Saucon Valley's annual lighting. Santa arrived on a fire truck and lit the 40-foot tree in Town Square at 7 p.m.

This year the township's own calendar has a second date. Upper Saucon Township Holidays at Hopewell Park runs Saturday, December 12, from 5 to 8 p.m. It promises holiday entertainment, local vendors, seasonal food and treats, and family activities, and it ends with a Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony. The township's listing says the evening will "officially kick off the holiday season." By then, though, the Promenade's tree will have been lit for four weeks. Center Valley's season now has a mall lighting in November and a township lighting in December, and the December one comes at the end of a year in which the township moved most of its public events to one park on West Hopewell Road.

Hopewell Park Spent 2026 Becoming the Township's Main Gathering Place

Hopewell Park is at 4695 W Hopewell Rd. Look at the township's 2026 parks and recreation program page and the park's name appears in nearly every line:

1. May 9: Paper shredding event with Representative Mackenzie, 10 a.m. to noon
2. June 5: Movie Night #1, the Schools Out Bash, with activities from 6 to 9 p.m. and Zootopia 2 at sundown
3. June 19 and June 26: Summer concerts with The Weekenders, then Island Time
4. July 11: The USA 250th Celebration, with the Galena Brass Band from 5 to 6 p.m., a concert band from 7:30 to 9 p.m. and fireworks at 9 p.m.
5. July 24 and August 14: Scott Marshall Band, then Craig Thatcher Band, with food trucks at 6 p.m. and music from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
6. October 2: Movie Night #2, with activities from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
7. October 31: Household Hazardous Waste Event, 9 a.m. to noon
8. December 12: Holidays at Hopewell Park

The township's summer programs for kids still run out of the Saucon Valley Community Center at Community Park on Preston Lane. The evening events, the fireworks and the shred-and-drop-off Saturdays have all landed at Hopewell. The park is also getting bigger. In March 2025, Assistant Township Manager Joseph Geib told Lehigh Valley Public Media that the township had settled on 20 acres next to Hopewell Park and that improvements would follow.

The first Hopewell date on this fall's list comes before the holidays. The Household Hazardous Waste Event is Saturday, October 31, from 9 a.m. to noon. It falls on the rain date for the township's Trick-or-Treat Night, which is set for Friday, October 30, from 6 to 8 p.m. If rain pushes trick-or-treating to Saturday night, the Hopewell drop-off still runs that morning.

November Still Belongs to the Promenade

The Promenade Saucon Valley at 2845 Center Valley Parkway has run its tree lighting for years, and Saucon Source called it an annual event in both 2024 and 2025. Last year's version had a lot packed into three hours: live music, face painting, live reindeer, a Santa letter-writing station, a hot chocolate bar, visits from Elsa and Olaf, and Santa greeting families in the stone gazebo next to Starbucks before lighting the tree at 7 p.m.

For 2026, the Promenade's events listing puts the Holiday Tree Lighting on November 14. The event's own page still says "Saturday, November 15th." That was last year's Saturday, so the line looks like a leftover from 2025. The page lists 5 to 8 p.m. and says more details are coming. Dan's Camera, which handles the Santa photo sessions there, also lists Saturday, November 14 for Tree Lighting and Santa's Arrival. Saturday the 14th is the date to plan around, but check the Promenade site again before you go.

The tree lighting also opens Snowflake Square, which runs November 14 through December 24. The Promenade's Snowflake Square page describes it as an outdoor market of festive sheds with local businesses, artisans and specialty gifts, set in Town Square around the 40-foot tree and the Santa photo experience. Green Acres Outdoor Living presents it, and this is its fourth year. Hours are 4 to 8 p.m. on Fridays, noon to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Saucon Source covered its return in 2024, when it ran November 15 to Christmas Eve. That gives the Promenade four full weekends of the market before the township's tree goes up on December 12.

What's Different at the Promenade Since Last Year's Lighting

If you head over for Snowflake Square, a few storefronts have changed since the last time Santa came in on a fire truck. Wonder, which serves dishes from more than 20 restaurant brands under one roof, held its grand opening on June 11, according to The Morning Call. It's next to ELITE Salons & Suites.

WFMZ reported that Every DOG!, a 3,400-square-foot pet supply store in Suite 420 between Claire's and American Eagle, was set to open during Barktoberfest on October 17. Separately, WFMZ reported that a restaurant is in development at 2960 Center Valley Parkway, Suite 700. That's the former Bar Louie and Shula's space, and Bar Louie closed in August 2025. The concept and opening date haven't been announced, so the Suite 700 space will probably still be dark during this season's Snowflake Square weekends.

December 12 Puts Two Events on One Night

The township's Hopewell evening isn't the only Center Valley event on December 12. The same night, DeSales University holds the last of its four performances of Gaudeamus 2026, a candlelight concert in Connelly Chapel. Performances are Monday, December 7; Tuesday, December 8; Friday, December 11; and Saturday, December 12. Each runs from 7:30 to 8:45 p.m. The university describes it this way:

"Originally created by Dr. Dennis Varley and first presented on our campus in 1989, this perennially sold-out candlelight concert is a seasonal gift to the wider campus community."

The concert is listed as a public and community event. Doors open no later than 7 p.m., and early arrivals line up in the Breezeway behind the chapel. The Saturday show and the Hopewell tree lighting run during the same hours, so a household that wants both has to split them across two nights:

• Gaudeamus on December 7, 8 or 11, Hopewell on the 12th. You'll need tickets early, given how the university describes past demand, and Saturday stays open for the park from 5 p.m. through the lighting.
• Hopewell's vendors and food early on the 12th, then Gaudeamus. The park opens at 5 and the chapel doors open by 7, which leaves a short window and means you'd leave before the township lights its tree.
• Promenade on November 14, Hopewell on December 12. You get both tree lightings and skip the chapel, and the two Saturdays are 28 days apart.

The township's listing for December 12 doesn't name performers, a vendor list or a rain plan yet. Until it does, the date, the hours, the address and the closing tree lighting are the details to plan around.

A Season With Two Anchors

Here's how the season lines up. The Promenade's lighting on Saturday, November 14 opens six weeks of Snowflake Square in Town Square, running through Christmas Eve. The Hopewell Park lighting on Saturday, December 12 comes after a year of township concerts, movie nights and fireworks at the same park. Both run from 5 to 8 p.m.; the first is put on by the shopping center and the second by the township. Gaudeamus runs December 7, 8 and 11, and its last performance falls on the same Saturday as the Hopewell lighting. The Household Hazardous Waste Event at Hopewell on October 31, 9 a.m. to noon, is the first date on this calendar.

Jeff Adams spent 30 years in construction and renovation before he became a broker, and he notices when a township keeps putting money and programming into one park, as Upper Saucon has done at Hopewell this year. If you're wondering how changes like that around 4695 W Hopewell Rd show up in what nearby homes are worth, Jeff Adams can walk you through it. Get Your Free Home Valuation.