On the day after Thanksgiving in 2024, the temperature in Apalachicola dropped as low as 41 degrees. That didn't keep the crowd away. The Apalachicola Times described an "enormous crowd" at Riverfront Park for Santa's annual arrival aboard a shrimp boat. Children and their families waited in a line to see Santa and Mrs. Claus that ran "well into the darkened night."
The line shows how long the evening runs. The Apalachicola Downtown Christmas Celebration lasts well beyond the boat landing, and most of it is downtown shopping after dark. This year it falls on Friday, November 27.
The boat lands at 4. The shops stay open until 9:30.
The Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce event page lists the celebration from 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Black Friday. Luminaries line the streets, carolers walk downtown and merchants stay open late. Santa arrives by shrimp boat at 4 p.m. at Riverfront Park on Water Street and stays in the park to hear children's Christmas wishes. Chamber staff hand out hot dogs to the children who come to see him. The Florida's Forgotten Coast listing gives the same 3:30 to 9:30 window and calls the shrimp-boat arrival the highlight of the day.
Do the math on that schedule. The public part of Santa's arrival is pinned to one moment, 4 p.m., and the evening keeps going for five and a half hours after he steps onto the dock. Late shop hours, carolers and luminaries fill those hours. In Apalachicola, the shrimp boat draws people to the waterfront, and the rest of the evening is planned to keep them downtown after dark.
What the last two Black Fridays looked like
The Times has covered the evening for years, and the details from 2024 and 2025 show how it actually runs.
In 2024, City Commissioners Despina George and Anita Grove worked alongside Chamber staff handing out hot dogs and popcorn. As the sun set, Grove, serving as mayor pro tem, lit the shrimp net Christmas tree that stands in Riverfront Park. Mark and Natalie Parsley arranged Santa and Mrs. Claus's visit, as they had in earlier years.
In 2025, the Times reported that hundreds of people filled Apalachicola's streets on Black Friday and that the Clauses arrived at Riverfront Park "right on time" aboard a shrimp boat, waving to the crowd. Lorne and Cheryl Whaley of Carrabelle arranged the visit for the first time that year.
WJHG's preview of the 2025 celebration listed what went on around the landing:
- Santa meeting families from the 4 p.m. arrival into the evening
- Free hot dogs and popcorn
- The tree lighting
- Luminaries
- Dancing witches
- A Christmas village photo area
- Merchants open late
The tree ties the evening to the working waterfront. It's made of shrimp net, it stands in the park where the boat docks, and it gets lit at sunset, a little more than an hour after Santa comes ashore. On a late-November Friday, that timing carries the evening from the waterfront into the lit-up downtown streets.
Why downtown stays lit past dark
The late hours have a practical reason, and the Chamber has said so. In WJHG's Black Friday coverage last year, the station noted that the town is in its off-season and that its storefronts are mostly mom-and-pop shops. Holiday spending, the report said, helps locals stay afloat until tourism picks up again.
John Solomon, executive director of the Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce, told WJHG that shopping local "is the number one thing that keeps businesses, especially here in Franklin County going." He added that the shops are "locally owned mom and pop shops, the owners are typically the ones running the shops, and that money stays in our community."
The same report noted that Grady Market carries a Life is Good line that supports local charities, and that shops and restaurants stayed open late for Black Friday and the Christmas celebration. WJHG also reported that Apalachicola's Main Street had been ranked 21st in the country for Christmas shopping the year before.
That explains why the celebration runs as late as it does. A Santa visit could wrap up by dinnertime. Keeping it open until 9:30 gives downtown merchants a full evening of foot traffic in the slowest stretch of their year.
The same pattern continues around the bay
After November 27, the events around the bay follow a similar pattern. Each one pairs a lighting or a performance with local makers, merchants or a waterfront crowd, and they fall across the two weekends after Thanksgiving.
| Date | Event | Where | What's on the listing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Dec. 4 | Lighting of the Palms | Lighthouse Park, St. George Island | 4 to 6 p.m., crafts, games, refreshments, Santa, palms lit at dusk, golf-cart parade |
| Saturday, Dec. 5 | Holiday Fresh Market | Apalachicola Visitor Center, 17 Avenue E | 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., local handmade goods |
| Saturday, Dec. 12 | Holiday on the Harbor and Boat Parade of Lights | Carrabelle waterfront | Festival from noon, merchants open late, boat parade at dark, fireworks |
| Sunday, Dec. 13 | Bay Area Choral Society, "Jingle All the Way" | Trinity Episcopal Church, Apalachicola | 4 to 5:30 p.m., sacred and secular music with FSU musicians, $5 to $20 |
Two of these events are in Apalachicola. The other two are a short drive away, one across the bridge on St. George Island and one up the coast in Carrabelle. Counting Black Friday, that puts holiday events on three straight weekends, through Sunday, December 13. The Holiday Fresh Market comes eight days after the downtown celebration and keeps the focus on local goods. The Visitor Center at 17 Avenue E is a short walk from the Water Street shops that stayed open late on the 27th.
The Carrabelle date is the closest match to Apalachicola's Black Friday. It has the same mix of merchants open late and a waterfront event after dark, with a parade of lit boats in place of a single shrimp boat. Fireworks close the night. It also connects to the Black Friday evening another way, since the couple who arranged Santa's 2025 Apalachicola visit are from Carrabelle.
Planning the evening of the 27th
Based on the 2026 listings and the last two years of coverage, here's how the evening tends to unfold in order:
- Arrive before 4 p.m. The celebration opens at 3:30, and the shrimp boat docks at Riverfront Park on Water Street at 4. The Times called the 2025 arrival "right on time."
- Expect a long line for Santa. In 2024, the line of families waiting to see the Clauses ran well past dark.
- Stay at the park for sunset. In 2024, that's when the shrimp net tree was lit.
- Head downtown after dark. Luminaries line the streets, carolers are out and merchants are open late, with the celebration listed until 9:30 p.m.
- Dress for a cold evening. In 2024 the temperature fell to 41 degrees, and most of the evening's activity happens after sundown.
If family is in town for Thanksgiving, the shrimp boat lands the next afternoon. An evening walk through the downtown shops afterward sends some of the weekend's holiday spending to the owner-run stores the Chamber's director described.
Chasity was born on St. George Island and has spent her career on this stretch of coast. If you're spending time in Apalachicola this holiday season, or want to talk about owning a home near Riverfront Park and the downtown shops, Chasity Hill is glad to hear from you. Talk with Chasity and schedule a tour.
