Wellington's Holiday Season Runs Down Forest Hill Boulevard This Year
November 12, 2026
November 12, 2026
"A Star-Spangled Holiday: Celebrating 250 Years as a Nation" is the theme of this year's 42nd Annual Wellington Holiday Parade, according to the Village of Wellington's event listing. For anyone in Binks Forest planning that Sunday, the route carries the practical detail. The parade starts at the corner of Wellington Trace and Forest Hill Boulevard and finishes at Ken Adams Way, and the Village says road closures on Forest Hill Boulevard will begin at 1 p.m. that Sunday.
Nearly every stop on the season's calendar has a Forest Hill Boulevard address. The Wellington Amphitheater is at 12100. The Wellington Community Center, where the boat parade passes, is at 12150. The Mall at Wellington Green is at 10300 W. Forest Hill Blvd., and the long-empty building in the plaza in front of it that is becoming an indoor pickleball complex is at 10570. Between mid-November and mid-January, holiday plans in central Wellington mostly come down to which end of that one road you head toward, and on one afternoon the road is closed for the parade.
The Village's free programming at the Amphitheater keeps going straight through the holidays. Here is what remains on the calendar as of this week, according to the Village's event listings:
The tree lighting on Dec. 3 is the evening most likely to fill the lawn. The Village's listing puts the lighting itself at 6:30 p.m., with live music, food trucks and vendors on site through the evening. If you want to see the lighting and still get home at a reasonable hour on a school night, plan to arrive before 6:30 p.m.
The Village's calendar notes that events, dates and times may change. Check the listing before you head out, especially for outdoor shows in December.
On the night before the parade, the action moves from the Amphitheater lawn to the water. The Village's Holiday Boat Parade listing puts the parade on Lake Wellington on Saturday, Dec. 12, with about 40 decorated boats.
The best place to watch is the Town Center Promenade behind the Wellington Community Center at 12150 Forest Hill Boulevard. The boats are expected to pass there at about 6:30 p.m., and the event is free. The Community Center at 12150 and the Amphitheater at 12100 share the same stretch of Forest Hill Boulevard, so the Dec. 12 crowd gathers in the same part of town that fills again the next morning.
That makes the second weekend of December the busiest stretch of the season in Wellington's civic center. A household could watch the boats Saturday evening, come back Sunday morning for Santa photos and the holiday market, and then find a spot on Forest Hill for the parade.
The parade day has two parts, and the timing of each matters for anyone who uses Forest Hill Boulevard that Sunday.
The morning is the Holiday Park at the Wellington Amphitheater, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The Village lists photos with Santa, live music, kids' crafts and activities, and a Holiday Market with local vendors.
The afternoon is the parade, which starts at 1:30 p.m. at Wellington Trace and Forest Hill Boulevard and ends at Ken Adams Way and the Chancellor Offices parking lot. Floats, marching bands and special guests are on the bill. Wellington Regional Medical Center presents the parade, and the Central Palm Beach County Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Palm Beach County and the Village of Wellington put it on together.
Here is how the timing works for the people who live along the route:
If you have errands that afternoon east toward the mall, or plans that need Forest Hill to get anywhere, do them before 1 p.m. or wait until the parade has finished. The Village's own advice is to plan your arrival accordingly.
Head east on Forest Hill toward State Road 7 and the holiday-season reasons to stop look different than they did a year ago. Several of the newest arrivals at the Mall at Wellington Green are places to spend an evening or an afternoon, not just places to shop.
Copper Blues Rock Pub & Kitchen held its public grand opening Oct. 16 and 17 on the mall's upper level, next to Palm Beach Improv, as the Town-Crier reported. The restaurant's own location page describes acoustic acts during happy hour, cover bands on weekends with no cover charge, and occasional DJs, tribute bands and special events. With Palm Beach Improv right next door, that part of the upper level now offers a dinner-and-a-show evening without leaving the building.
Kids Empire opened a 10,223-square-foot indoor play venue on the second floor near the Grand Court, and the Town-Crier reported that it is open daily. It covers the rainy December afternoon and the cousins visiting over winter break.
Two smaller shops round out the year's arrivals. Silk & Sugga opened this past summer as its first location, on the first floor near JCPenney between Sunglass Hut and Scoops & Beyond, according to the Town-Crier. Bikini Bar, a swimwear, resort-wear and accessories shop, opened June 27 in the former Francesca's space on the second level across from CMX Cinemas, the Town-Crier reported.
The biggest change on this end of the road is in the Shoppes at Wellington Green, the plaza in front of the mall. Its former Circuit City store was built in 2002 and has been mostly empty since Circuit City closed all its stores after filing for bankruptcy in 2008. Several proposals for the building were submitted over the years, and none went forward, according to the Town-Crier.
The new tenant is Diadem Pickleball Complex. Its plans call for 11 air-conditioned indoor courts, two pickleball simulators, two golf simulators, a pro shop, a private party area, and a restaurant and bar. Gene DeVito, general manager and director of pickleball at Diadem's Coconut Creek location, told the Town-Crier the company chose Wellington because of its established pickleball community and limited indoor options. As of the paper's September report, the company planned a soft opening in December and a full launch in January. Wellington Planning, Zoning & Building Director Tim Stillings put the Village's view simply in the same Town-Crier article:
"It's a benefit to fill a storefront that has been vacant for many years."
Anyone who has driven past that building for more than a decade will know what he means. Diadem's website, diadempickleballcomplex.com, is the place to check for programs and schedules.
The Forest Hill calendar quiets down after the Dec. 17 Beyond the Beatles show, but Wellington's other seasonal calendar is already running. Wellington International's schedule lists the Holiday & Horses CSI4* on Nov. 26, followed by horse shows on Dec. 4, 10, 17 and 31. The Dec. 31 date is the Holiday Circuit Finale.
The real change in the village's rhythm comes in January. Wellington International's 2027 Winter Equestrian Festival schedule opens with WEF Premiere Week, Jan. 6 to 10, followed by WEF Week 1, Jan. 13 to 17, and WEF Week 2, Jan. 20 to 24. That leaves a little over three weeks between the Dec. 13 parade and WEF Premiere Week, with the Dec. 17 Beyond the Beatles show and the Dec. 31 Holiday Circuit Finale in between.
If the holidays have you thinking about how the new arrivals along Forest Hill Boulevard affect what your Binks Forest home is worth, Jeanne Gordon would be glad to walk you through it over coffee, before the parade or after it. Request your home valuation whenever the timing suits you.
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